LONDON: Enzo Maresca matched Pep Guardiola in managing Manchester City to victory over United in his first derby even if the three points owed almost everything to his players’ resilience and spirit rather than pre-match strategy.

The course of the latest Old Trafford drama was thrown balance by an early red card for City’s Phil Foden. This disturbed United more than a City team who secured all three points with a controversial second-half strike from Erling Haaland. The referees’ new organisation ProRef – successor to PGMOL – later aologised for an error in interpretation.

Maresca’s City had approached the derby full of the confidence born of four successive league wins and the 2-0 Champions League victory at Porto on Tuesday. This was an impressive start for the Italian to the greatest challenge of his football career in acceding to the managerial throne of the all-conquering Pep Guardiola.

Maresca understood the City culture from his role as assistant to Guardiola in the treble-winning season of 2022-23 but following a legend can prove an impossible task: United could point to the problems they had trying to find a man up to the talk of succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson. David Moyes was the first of 11, including caretakers and up to Michael Carrick now.

Whatever carefully-laid strategy Maresca had devised was overturned in only the 24th minute when Phil Foden was sent off by referee Michael Oliver for a two-footed kick into the stomach of United captain Bruno Fernandes. Foden protested in vain that Fernandes had rapped his ankles first though the Portuguese was perhaps fortunate to escape a yellow card.

Foden’s punishment was the second of his career and the ninth in the derby in the Premier League though only City’s second.

United, to this point, had been the more aggressive in attack. City adjusted to the situation by abandoning their initial 4-2-3-1 in favour of 4-4-2 to try to withstand United’s attacking surge in midfield. The tactic worked for the remainder of the first half. City even had more possession and United’s only chance came from a Marcus Rashford free kick which hit a post.

Five minutes into the second Kobbie Mainoo also hit a post as United showed more urgency. Maresca’s one adjustment for the second half had been the replacement of Rayan Cherki with Iliman Ndiaye to offer a more direct option whenever United might offer them the chance of a break.

Ndiaye played a key role in a superb move which ended with Erling Haaland shooting City into the lead. The Norwegian’s fourth goal in three successive league matches was confirmed by VAR after being denied initially by an assistant’s flag for offside against the diving Fernandez. Debate over the offside will run and run.

In the immediate short term ProRef later made contact with United “to acknowledge what we deem is an error of judgement.”

A statement added: “The on-field decision was offside against Erling Haaland – that was checked by VAR and he was found to be in an onside position. In the same attack, it was established that Enzo Fernandez did not play the ball and therefore that makes any offside offence subjective, however, on this occasion, the VAR did not recognise the likely impact of his position and should have recommended an on-field review.”

Too late for United. In any case City, even with 10 men, had played the better football.

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