Manchester City forward Riyad Mahrez has explained how he managed to beat Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea and score twice at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
The Algerian scored two of the four goals for the Citizens, and he has now revealed the trick he used to find his way past the Spanish goalkeeper during the derby.
"The first half was pretty good. [In the] second half, we were more patient and controlled." Mahrez is quoted by the club’s website as saying.
"The first goal, the player [Harry Maguire] touched it, but you have to hit the target, just like our physio says, you have to hit the target to get the goal.
"The second one, I tried to hit it high because I know David De Gea is good at saving the ball low. I hit it high and it hit his face and went in - I’ll take them both!"
As Mahrez said they were patient in the second half, and Kevin De Bruyne - who scored the other two goals in the 4-1 win – stated that they had more opportunities and also praised their rivals.
"I think United played very differently than on other occasions. They tried to press us and they played well in the first half," the Belgian, whose opener for Manchester City (04:26) was his side’s earliest Premier League goal in the Manchester derby since Edin Dzeko netted after 43 seconds at Old Trafford in March 2014, said.
"In the second half, we found more opportunities. We did really well. We showed we’re a good team. We played really well and we fully deserved the three points."
As De Bruyne’s opener helped him join the list of Romelu Lukaku (118), Christian Benteke (86) and Eden Hazard (85) as Belgians who have scored 50-plus Premier League goals, Mahrez’s two goals took him beyond 100 combined goals (60) and assists (41) in Manchester City colours.
Jadon Sancho, who has been directly involved in four goals in his last five Premier League appearances - two goals and two assists – scored the only goal for the Red Devils.
