Jose Mourinho has rarely greeted Pep Guardiola as warmly as he did at Old Trafford and the friendliness might have crept onto the pitch.
A derby with a playlist selected by Alexandra Burke, the tone was not appropriately set for a blood-and-thunder local derby, and Manchester United danced to City's tune for 40 minutes.
Sir Alex Ferguson said Pep Guardiola's Barcelona were the finest side his United had faced and Mourinho might opine Guardiola's City were when he reflects on his time in Manchester. Marcelo Bielsa's vibrant Athletic Bilbao schooled United four-and-a-half years ago, albeit in the Europa League, and the supreme City treated one of the most anticipated world football fixtures in recent times like a training ground match. United were the training cones.
Gary Neville described United as 'mannequins; dismantled, torn apart'. Ryan Giggs, sat in the directors' box, was once feared by the Blues and tore them apart yet United were devoid of wingers and warriors.
Seconds before Kelechi Iheanacho flicked on Aleksandar Kolarov's punt, United supporters were urging Henrikh Mkhitaryan to press the Serbian. Mkhitaryan, starring in the worst derby debut since Patrice Evra, seemed so unsure he looked to the bench for guidance, only Mourinho was scribbling in his notebook. He only put his pen down when Kevin de Bruyne slotted past David de Gea.
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