Manchester City go for title against Man United

And Pogba leveled the scores on 55 minutes when he headed home a pin-point cross from Sanchez before Chris Smalling snatched the points by volleying home inside the area.

Instead, Pogba, who City coach Pep Guardiola said Friday was offered to him, completely changed the game with goals in the 53rd and 55th minute.

A number of weeks ago the number crunchers predicted City could well be in line to be crowned champions with a victory over United – but it wasn’t to be.

“In November, December everybody said the Premier League is done. Even if Manchester United don’t win another title in 50 years, they are still Manchester United“.

Despite the positives, it would be the mental impact of the derby loss that Guardiola would be anxious about, especially considering that they need to produce an incredible comeback of their own to overcome a three-goal deficit and get past Liverpool in the quarter-finals of Europe’s top club competition.

Pogba said: “I didn’t want to lose against City, the loss from last season is still in my mind”.

City is 3-0 down from the first leg, and Guardiola has suggested he will rotate to keep players fresh for the return game. “What we will try to prove is that we’re the second best team in the country”.

“If they won they are champions, for all the fans it would be like death”, added Pogba, who has had a mixed season. The same side hold the record for the earliest title win in terms of games remaining with 5 -meaning City would need to rely on a slip up from their crosstown rivals next week to even equal the record. Mourinho went into ultra-defensive mode the last time he took his team to Etihad Stadium around this time last season, and United ground out a 0-0 draw.

City’s Abu-Dhabi owners have splashed an estimated 878 million euros over the past decade to assemble a squad that has tilted the balance of power in Manchester from red to blue. The home fans were in dreamland and City should have extended their lead before half-time but Raheem Sterling failed to hit the target with two guilt-edged chances. The pass from Alexis Sanchez was just delightful.

Yet making City wait for their place among the immortals would be some consolation for United, whose midfielder Juan Mata is well aware how important it is to show some pride.

Guardiola summoned Aguero and De Bruyne in the hope of at least avoiding a second league defeat in the campaign, and the former was denied a 200th goal for the club when De Gea acrobatically tipped over a close-range header.