Derby demolition doubles down on United anguish

A double from Kevin De Bruyne. A double from Riyad Mahrez. The double completed by City over United in this season's Manchester derbies.

Just further confirmation of the divergent paths these rivals are on in the English Premier League.

The 4-1 victory on Sunday restored City's six-point lead over Liverpool in its quest to retain the title and pick up the trophy for a sixth time in a decade.

And where is United? Languishing 22 points behind City and now no longer even in the fourth and final Champions League place.

"They showed what kind of top-quality team they have," United interim manager Ralf Rangnick said.

United was also outclassed in a 2-0 derby loss to City in November that precipitated the firing of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The final blow was losing to Watford－the team that was beaten 3-2 in Sunday's other game that allowed Arsenal to dislodge United from fourth.

"I didn't actually expect Arsenal to lose at Watford," Rangnick said. "So for us it's clear, if we still want to have a chance to finish fourth at the end of the season, we can almost not drop any more points, and we also know that in those 10 games that we have to play, there are a few other difficult ones so let's take it game by game.

"For us, it's important we keep developing the team, which we did in the last couple of months."

But United has been a work in progress since Alex Ferguson retired back in 2013 after the club's last Premier League title win.

Sunday's game produced only City's second home derby win in the league in seven attempts. But while United and City both have a net spend of around $1 billion on transfers in the last decade, the blue half of Manchester is the team regularly collecting trophies. United is enduring a five-year title drought since the 2017 Europa League triumph that can only be ended by winning the Champions League this season.

Europe's top prize is the priority for City after losing the final last season to Chelsea, however sweet it will be to win the Premier League again.

United did have to cope without Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani, Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw through injury or illness on Sunday. That doesn't fully account for how ineffective United was or how susceptible Harry Maguire was in defense.

It took City only five minutes to go in front. De Bruyne connected with the cutback from Bernardo Silva and shot through Maguire's legs and past goalkeeper David De Gea.

There was a glimmer of hope when Paul Pogba released Jadon Sancho and the former City player took on Kyle Walker before bending the ball into the net in the 22nd minute.

City took only six minutes to regain the lead. The move began with a moment of dazzling individual brilliance by Phil Foden flicking the ball over Victor Lindelof. While the shot was parried by De Gea, Silva's follow-up was only partly blocked by Maguire before United defender Alex Telles knocked the ball toward De Bruyne, who netted again.

"They tried to press us and they played well in the first half," De Bruyne said. "In the second half we found more opportunities."

After the interval, it was Mahrez's turn to contribute the goals－starting with an assist from De Bruyne.

Mahrez connected with a corner from the Belgium playmaker with a half-volley that slightly deflected off Maguire before landing in the net in the 68th.

There was initially an offside reprieve for United in the 90th but then the VAR review allowed Mahrez's strike to count, compounding the misery for United.

"If the second half is not our best, I don't know what we have to do, honestly," City manager Pep Guardiola said. "I'm such a demanding man, but I know my limits and I know the players' limits and the second half in all terms (was excellent)."

Maguire was devastated as he tried to analyze what went wrong.

"When we had the ball we just gave it back to them far too cheaply, far too easily, we weren't clean enough with our passing," the England international said.

"And in moments where we did have chances to hurt them we weren't clinical enough, we weren't clean enough with the passing and the transitional moments in the game, especially in the second half."

Agencies via Xinhua