'Anything is possible' - Marcus Rashford celebrates as Manchester United move into title race after win over City
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Updated 14/01/2023 at 22:32 GMT
Manchester United moved within a point of rivals Manchester City after winning Saturday's derby with two late goals. The first came from Bruno Fernandes and the winner from Marcus Rashford, and speaking after the win, both defended the validity of Fernandes' equaliser and then praised the team spirit that was emerging at Old Trafford under Erik ten Hag.
'Fans may dream, not us' - Ten Hag on United's title chances after win over City
Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes celebrated a new-found Manchester United team spirit after their 2-1 win over Manchester City on Saturday.
When Jack Grealish scored on the hour, the game looked to be drifting towards three points for Pep Guardiola’s men.
However a controversial goal from Fernandes levelled things on 78 minutes when Rashford appeared to shepherd the ball from an offside position without touching it, before the Portuguese attacker finished the move off from Casemiro’s pass.
Rashford then popped up on 86 minutes to score a winner from close range, giving Erik ten Hag’s men the win and putting them into title contention behind City and Arsenal.
Speaking after the match, Fernandes made an observation that some could take to be a comment on the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo before the break for the World Cup in Qatar last year.
“It was an amazing comeback from the team,” he told BT Sport. “We look like a team now. Some time ago you could see some of us looking a little bit for ourselves, but now you see a proper team that works hard for each other, and it pays.”
Rashford agreed, stating: “Everyone’s putting a shift in now. Anything is possible.”
Fernandes also denied that the equaliser should have been disallowed, claiming that Rashford had not got close enough to an opposing player to create any impediment.
“He doesn’t have any influence because there was nobody close to him,” he argued. “So he doesn’t make any influence on the team-mates to defend. The only one close was the one close to me, so it is what it is. It’s a goal.”
United are now six points behind Arsenal, though Mikel Arteta’s men have a game in hand, while they are one point behind City who have played 18 games, the same as the Red Devils.
Fernandes said that his team would not get carried away after the win.
"That doesn’t matter for us,” he said of the gap between second and third place. “We have to look forward to the next game. If you don't keep winning they’ll go [City will go more points clear]. We’ll celebrate a big win but from tomorrow our focus has to be on the next game."
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