'We could have done even better'- Gundogan warns Man Utd after derby destruction

The Red Devils face an uphill task to make the final of the Carabao Cup after a 3-1 defeat at the hands of their great rivals at Old Trafford

Ilkay Gundogan says Manchester United have no chance of overturning their two-goal deficit if Manchester City repeat their performance in the second leg while suggesting the Blues could have done even more damage.

Pep Guardiola’s side ripped their neighbours apart in the opening 45 minutes at Old Trafford, with goals from Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and an Andreas Pereira own goal to take control of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

But they also missed chances to be move further ahead, and Gundogan’s only regret is that City did not take more of a grip of the two-legged tie.

“I felt on the pitch we could have done even better - converting our chances better, maybe put a little bit more on top of that,” the Germany international said.

“But it was great, I don’t want to complain about our first half performance, it was a joy to watch.

“That was important for the first leg, because it feels great to go home for the second leg with this result.

“It’s a great score for us, but it’s Man United so it’s not done yet. If we play similar, then I don’t think they will have any chance.”

It was the perfect response to City’s surprise home defeat to United in the Premier League a month ago and puts them on a cusp of a fourth Carabao Cup final in five years.

Gundogan added that it was important for the fans to not lose back-to-back derbies although he warned that the tie is not yet over.

“Obviously we were hurting - you can lose against this United side, it’s always a special game against them home or away,” he added.

“They are still a great club, great team with great players, and have the quality to beat everyone.

“But we could have done better, not really with the result in the league game, but with the performance in the first half.

“We lost that game, and our aim was to not lose twice in a row against them, and the reaction was great.

“We saw a few videos from the league game, and said to ourselves we want to do better. But I always starts from zero, a new game, a new challenge.”

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Guardiola has seen a reaction from his side since that derby defeat at the start of December with eight wins out of nine since - the only defeat coming at Wolves after Ederson’s early red card.

But Gundogan says they have not changed anything specifically to prompt the run of results.

“I can’t tell that there is anything significant we wanted to change, we just wanted to do that extra,” he said.

“We knew the last month would be tough, the amount of game we’ve played is incredible and second half we felt how tough it is to play every two to three days in such an intense period.

“It’s not something we wanted to change, we just wanted to play as good as possible, and better than we did in the league against United.

“We know the quality we have in the squad - we can change nearly every player and still the quality is top. It’s about every single player putting in a performance on the field.”

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