The build up to the Manchester derby was huge around Europe, especially so in Spain.
Pep Guardiola is of course Spanish, and achieved great things with Barcelona, and Jose Mourinho is often characterised as the pantomime villain.
All the Spanish sport newspapers review the match, and several have given out player ratings, which for a few players won’t be comfortable reading at all.
Marca, probably the best known of the Spanish sport newspapers, decided two Manchester United players didn’t do enough to receive a mark.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard both had poor showings and Marca give the attackers a grand total of -. Nothing, zilch.
The struggling pair were both brought off at half time, to be replaced by Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashord, who managed to get 2 stars.
Manchester City obviously did much better in the Marca rankings, with Nicolas Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Nolito all getting 3 stars.
Marca also rated the two club’s managers, and Pep Guardiola got 3 stars, with Mourinho perhaps being fortunate to get himself 2, given the mistakes made in how Manchester United started the match.
Diairo AS also gave a blank mark to Mkhitaryan and Lingard, but they, probably harshly, added Eric Bailly to that list.
The marks from AS for all players on show seem really low, with not one Manchester City player getting more than two ‘aces’.
Indeed it makes you wonder just what Belgian international De Bruyne would have to do to be considered to have a really good game.
Catalan newspaper Sport looked at Manchester City’s performance much more favourably, with De Bruyne and Silva both being awarded 9 out of 10.
For Sport, the worst players on the pitch on Saturday were Claudio Bravo and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, closely followed by Daley Blind and Lingard.
