Amad and Fernandes seal last-gasp victory for Manchester United in dramatic derby against City

Pep Guardiola's team have now won just one game in their past 11 after Premier League defeat at Etihad Stadium

Amad Diallo of Manchester United celebrates scoring his team's second goal with teammates in the 2-1 Premier League win against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on December 15, 2024. Getty Images

Amad Diallo of Manchester United celebrates scoring his team's second goal. Getty Images

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola during the game. Getty Images

Amad Diallo of Manchester United scores his team's winner. Getty Images

Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United scores his team's first goal from the penalty spot. Getty Images

Josko Gvardiol of Manchester City celebrates scoring his team's first goal with teammate Ruben Dias. Getty Images

Josko Gvardiol of Manchester City scores his team's opening goal. Getty Images

Tempers flare after a coming together between Manchester City's Kyle Walker and Manchester United's Rasmus Hojlund. PA

Manchester City's Phil Foden has a shot. EPA

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim consoles Mason Mount after he was substituted following another injury. Reuters

Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City takes on Lisandro Martinez of Manchester United. Getty Images

Jeremy Doku of Manchester City is closed down by Noussair Mazraoui of Manchester United. Getty Images

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola before the kick-off. Getty Images

Manchester United somehow managed to pull a last-gasp victory from the hat as late goals from Amad Diallo and Bruno Fernandes sealed all three points in a dramatic derby against Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola's side looked to be cruising to victory in a low-quality clash at the Etihad Stadium after Josko Gvardiol had put them ahead in the 36th minute.

The Croatian defender rose above the United defence virtually unmarked to head home from a corner. It was the eighth goal United have conceded from a corner this season.

But the game was turned on its head in a matter of minutes as Amad, United's best player by a distance, was upended in the box by Nunes, who was attempting to recover from a careless back pass.

Fernandes produced a cool finish from the penalty spot to level the game in the 88th minute.

Two minutes later, Amad made a brilliant burst into the box to latch on to Lisandro Martinez's pass before beating City goalkeeper Ederson and producing a deft finish from a tight angle.

City manager Pep Guardiola looked disconsolate at the final whistle. The four-time-in-a-row champions now have just one win and eight defeats in their past 11 games. The result leaves them in fifth place in the Premier League, nine points behind leaders Liverpool.

The victory was by far the most significant of new United manager Ruben Amorim's short reign.

It was a much-needed, if barely deserved win.

While Guardiola's side have collected their lowest Premier League points tally four 14 years, United have made their worst top-flight start for 38 seasons.

But victory moved United above Tottenham into 12th place in the table, just five points behind fifth-placed City.

After the match, Amorim told BBC Match of the Day: "It was incredible. I think we deserved it. It was a very tough match but we believe until the end. We managed to score, we needed that win, it was important for us and for our fans.

"We were in the game for 90 minutes and that is very good. We talk about the Arsenal game, we played well in the first half but they were not believing that we could win. Today was so much more different.

"I also believe. Then we have Fergie time and we put the things together and something magic happened. It was a good day for us.

"They [the fans] need it. Just like us, but you can see the way they celebrate is special. But we need to continue. Our club needs to win these kinds of matches, I understand the happiness of our fans but we need to continue.

"With a victory for City, the performance was the same. We need to improve a lot of things but today the guys deserved the win. They were in it until the last minute and that is important for us."

On a bad day for strikers, neither Erling Haaland or his opposite number Rasmus Hojlund could find the target.

Norwegian hitman Haaland wasted several decent chances, while Dane Hojlund was replaced by Joshua Zirkzee after 77 minutes after barely making an impact. United didn't muster a single shot in the first half.

Tempers flared just before half-time when a coming together between Kyle Walker and Hojlund sparked a melee involving several players from both sides.

Walker brought down the United forward who leapt up to confront the City right-back. The two touched heads and Walker fell to the turf dramatically.

Replays showed there was no movement from Hojlund towards Walker, who ended up in referee Anthony Taylor's book for his troubles.

Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden said after the match: "Massively [disappointed] – game was in our hands. 1-0 up we were controlling the game. We had a lot of possession. Seems to be the story at the moment I don't know what happens but we switch off and they score two goals. It keeps happening at the moment. We have to stick together now, rebuild and go again.

"We've not been used to losing this amount of games in a short period. But sometimes you have to experience this in life, you can't always win. When things go wrong they then seem to go worse. We have to stick together and regroup."

United's player of the match Amad said: "We wanted to win this game. It was not easy.

"In the second half we pressed good, we wanted to win and we showed today that we can win any game. Let's enjoy it today and look forward to the next game."