Manchester City

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola speaking to Sky Sports: "We have the control but not in the right spots to hurt them in the first half, a little better in the first minutes of the second half. United have been an incredible transitional team, defend against us deep, with Garnacho and the pace they have. They link inside, they know perfectly what they have to do. But we take the point, I'd prefer to win but we are there.

What do the players need to do better?

"The players know it. There is a process when the ball is on one side the players need to be in the right position. Today that was not good enough.

"Against a 5-4-1 it's so narrow and congested. We should have been in some positions that we tried to get in but weren't good enough to punish them.

"The last games we much, much better, back four better, just our process was not [good] but we know that, when we lose the ball in certain positions they are a strong team and punish you, but we knew that.

About getting back to City's usual level:

"It will take time, the players gave everything today.

"We will prepare for the upcoming games, there are a few things I'm happy with what I saw, but now we need to achieve the target of qualifying for Champions League then next season is next season."

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Manchester City midfielder Mateo Kovacic has been speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "Not a beautiful game to watch. It was tough. They were aggressive in the mid block so it was tough to find the right spaces to play. It was tough to create chances and we had to be careful with the counter attack because they are good going forward. It was a typical derby. We wanted the win but we take the point and move on.

"We always go for the win but we also had to be careful not to lose it because we are in a battle for the Champions League and we need points. We could have done more going forward and creating more but it was tough with the small spaces. We move on to the next games.

"We have to have the same mindset for Champions League [as going for the title] because it is important that Man City are in the competition next season.

"It will be tough until the end because there are many teams that fight for the top four and no game in the Premier League is easy. But we are confident that we can achieve it."

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Manchester City have kept a clean sheet in successive Premier League games for the first time since May 2024, though they've failed to score in consecutive away matches in the competition for the first time since December 2020.

Ruben Dias' yellow card for Manchester City after 38 seconds was the earliest card shown in a Premier League Manchester derby on record (since 2006-07).

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Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Manchester United are short of goals, and I don't understand why Ruben Amorim went with Joshua Zirkzee to lead their attack ahead of Rasmus Hojlund in Tuesday's defeat at Nottingham Forest.

I see Hojlund as a number nine, while Zirkzee is a nine and a half to a 10 - anything but a centre-forward. It cannot be helping Hojlund's confidence, because it is quite obvious Amorim doesn't fancy him when he is desperate for results and he is not picking him.

People are saying United played well against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, and they dominated the ball, but they looked a bigger threat when Harry Maguire came on at the end of the game.

Is there a chance of big Harry playing up front from the start here? That would be funny, but it is not going to happen.

Manchester City will have to try something different in their attack too, with Erling Haaland out injured.

They have not clicked often enough this season, especially in the bigger games, and I still don't feel you can trust them to turn up the way they always used to - but this time I have a feeling they will find a way through.

If Amorim did manage to get the better of Pep Guardiola for a third time this season, then United would probably be selling T-shirts to mark the achievement. I don't see it happening though.

Sutton's prediction: 1-2

Read the full predictions and have your say here

With Manchester United struggling to get out of the bottom half of the table and Manchester City fighting for a Champions League spot, neither club's season has gone in the direction most would have expected.

As they battle it out in the Manchester derby on Sunday, we asked our fan contributors for each club to let us know why this could be the match that ignites their end to the campaign.

United fan Alex Turk at Turk Talks FC, external says it will happen because, after all, they have "done it before"...

And this is the view of City fan Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany, external, who says a win against United will add "a bit of fire" and "exorcise some demons" from a difficult season...

"As low key as it has ever been."

Manchester United fan Tom Mortimer and Manchester City supporter Lewis Brown preview the weekend's derby on The Football News Show.

Watch on BBC iPlayer

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Manchester United are looking to complete their first Premier League double over Manchester City since 2019-20, following their 2-1 win at Etihad Stadium in December.

City have won more Premier League away games against United than any other side (nine). And five of those nine wins have come under Pep Guardiola, the most of any visiting manager in the competition.

Bruno Fernandes has been involved in 21 goals at Old Trafford for Manchester United this season (12 goals, nine assists). If he assists in this game, it will be the third time he has got 10 or more goals and 10 or more assists in a season at Old Trafford (also 2020-21 and 2022-23).

Marc Higginson
BBC Sport Senior Journalist

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Kevin de Bruyne is, to a generation of City fans, their Colin Bell.

A man who had it all – just, as we were told, Bell did in the last great City team of the 60s and 70s.

With Yaya Toure-like lung-busting runs from midfield, the vision and grace of David Silva, the leadership attributes of Vincent Kompany and the goalscoring nous of Erling Haaland, De Bruyne took the best of the club's modern-day legends and rolled them into one Rolls Royce of a player.

Which is quite incredible considering he was never the biggest, fastest or fittest midfielder. Just the best.

The spectacular long-range goals will live long in the memory, but so will those bulldozing runs through midfield when he effortlessly went through the gears, and the perfectly-timed runs into the box.

Or those inch-perfect crosses – like the one against Newcastle to tee up Oscar Bobb last season. Only he could have seen it and then executed it.

Because he was a one-off. When City needed a goal in the Bernabeu, he would step up. Or when somebody was needed to take a title race by the scruff of the neck – as he did with four goals against Wolves in 2022 – he would take charge.

De Bruyne won everything at City – silverware and hearts. Simply ask any City fan to stay composed when watching Pep Guardiola, moments after winning the Champions League, gush: "We did it, Kev".

You showed this generation what Colin Bell was like. You touched it with greatness. You won every single piece of silverware City fans craved.

You did it, Kev.

Mike Minay
BBC Radio Manchester reporter

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Kevin de Bruyne is the only player at Manchester City who was there before Pep Guardiola. He will leave as one of the greatest this club has seen.

Friday's new is a shock, but not a surprise. The 33-year-old is out of contract in the summer and after a couple of campaigns in which he has been hit by injury and struggled for form, maybe it is the right time.

But it takes nothing away from what he has achieved: six Premier League titles, two FA Cup, five League Cups, one Champions League.

Throw in three times in the Uefa team of the year, twice PFA Players' Player of the Year and a four-time City player of the year.

A wand of a foot that could cut open a defence in a split second and change a game. If you needed a moment that could turn the fortunes around, everyone would look to De Bruyne.

Even after a six-month lay-off in the 2023-24 season, he came back and still finished as the club's highest assist-maker.

He signed as a "£55m flop" - according to one headline. He leaves having paid back every penny of that and more. A legend.

Just one question... where does his statue go?

Listen to Total Sport on BBC Radio Manchester every weeknight at 18:00 and listen to every Manchester City game - home and away - live on BBC Radio Manchester.

Former Manchester City midfielder Michael Brown pays tribute to Kevin de Bruyne, after the Belgium international announced he will leave City at the end of the season.

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A few more tributes to Kevin de Bruyne:

Kanwal: It was a great pleasure and honour to watch him play for 10 years with City. As well as being a great professional, he was a good gentleman. So long, we will miss you. Wishing you a very happy future.

Graham: Without a doubt Kevin de Bruyne is one of Manchester City's greatest ever players. Kevin along with David Silva and Colin Bell are the three best players to wear the sky blue shirt Thanks for so many great memories and your contribution to so many trophies and achievements over the past 10 years Kevin. You will never be forgotten.

Penny: So sad. I remember asking a Chelsea fan about him when he first arrived as I was sceptical. He said: "I think he'll be OK for you." Well, he certainly has been! Gutted.

Mark: What a man, what a player. He will be sorely missed. I introduced my grandsons to City 15 years ago having followed City for 53 years and we are sad to see the end of an icon. We will wear our number 17 shirts forever.

Richard: After two seasons of injury, it was probably inevitable - but let him finish his career at city by lifting the FA Cup as captain. It would be the perfect way to end.

Here are some of the things current Premier League managers said about Kevin de Bruyne:

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim: "One of the best midfielders in the Premier League. He improved the league. He was on the wrong side of Manchester so I wish him good luck. It was a pleasure to see him in Portugal a lot of times."

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, who worked with De Bruyne at City: "I rank him up there. He is one of the best players in the Premier League. [I've] never seen a player that can deliver that precisely at that high speed."

Brentford manager Thomas Frank: "I can only praise him. He is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League ever. There are a few good ones, eh? But from the more central, offensive players like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard - iconic England ones - I think De Bruyne is up there."

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna: "He's been incredible and certainly one of the greatest to grace the league. We faced him quite a few times when I was a coach with United and at that time, the biggest part of the gameplan was how to stop him."

Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner: "One of the most dominant players in the final third in the past decade in the Premier League."

Phil McNulty
Chief football writer

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When any conversation takes place, whether it is now or in the future, about the greatest players to grace the Premier League, Kevin de Bruyne will justifiably be part of it.

The heartbeat of one of the finest teams in the history of British football, De Bruyne was a creator supreme, a scorer of goals, a controller and dictator of games at the very highest level.

The Premier League has been fortunate to have him and we have been fortunate to watch him.

The word "great" is bandied around too easily - but it fits De Bruyne perfectly.

One stand-out personal memory was De Bruyne's performance when Manchester City beat Real Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League semi-final second leg at Etihad Stadium in May 2023.

City's first 45 minutes, in which they established a 2-0 lead, remains one of the finest halves of football I have ever witnessed - they delivered quality of the highest level, executed at a searing pace that bewildered Real Madrid.

At the heart of it all was De Bruyne, the great orchestrator of a magnificent team display.

If there is a sadness about De Bruyne's City career, it is that he was injured during both of their Champions League final appearances, suffering a serious facial injury following a collision with Antonio Rudiger in the 1-0 loss to Chelsea in 2021, then sustaining a hamstring injury in the victory against Inter Milan two years later.

Freddie Pye
Fan writer

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To try and summarise the transformational role played by Kevin de Bruyne on and off the pitch at Manchester City in the space of around 200 words is next to an impossible task.

That in itself is testament to his mammoth achievements over the past decade.

We are not just talking about one of Manchester City's finest footballers, but perhaps the finest ever at a club that has boasted the likes of Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee of a previous generation, and David Silva, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, and Fernandinho of more recent times.

• Rank where De Bruyne fits in the post-2008 generation of City players

This is also paying homage to a player that has redefined the global image of the Premier League, inspired an entire generation, acted as a role model for those rising in the game, and to a human being that is respected by all those within the game, and all those who watch on from the stands and beyond.

From the endless list of mouth-gapingly good assists to the big-game moments that drove Pep Guardiola's operation to unprecedented success, nothing achieved by Manchester City would have been possible without De Bruyne's involvement.

Whether that was the team-splitting assist against Stoke City back in 2017, four goals against Wolves at Molineux, a strike from distance at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid, altering the course of history against Aston Villa on the final day of the Premier League… We really could go on.

And what does the future hold? Who can possibly replace Kevin de Bruyne in a Manchester City shirt? The short answer is nobody. But you can get close in terms of importance to a team.

Those in charge of such a mammoth task can simply cut no corners, both financially and in terms of personnel.

From Manchester to you, Kevin: Thank you for everything!

Find more from Freddie Pye at City Xtra, external