Bruno Fernandes urged his Manchester United team-mates to ‘look forward’ after their 3-1 defeat to Manchester City, but admitted it was ‘going to be hard’ to secure a top-four finish this season.
Marcus Rashford got United off to the best possible start in the eighth minute of the 192nd Manchester derby, with the England forward finding the top corner of Ederson’s goal with a thunderous 25-yard strike to break the deadlock.
But the Premier League champions, last year’s treble winners, responded emphatically as an inspired Phil Foden scored a wondergoal of his own before adding a second to give the hosts the lead in the 80th minute.
Erling Haaland put Pep Guardiola’s side out of sight in the 91st minute to move to within a point of leaders Liverpool and consign United to their 11th loss of the top-flight campaign.
Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils now trail fourth-placed Aston Villa by 11 points and face a serious challenge to secure Champions League football for next season.
‘We need to look forward. We don’t depend only on ourselves to get into the positions we want,’ United captain Fernandes told the club’s official website shortly after the final whistle.
‘We’re not hiding from that, we want to be in the Champions League and we want to try until the end of the season to get into that fourth place that gives you the possibility to get into the Champions League.
‘We know it’s going to be hard but we have to do everything that is in our hands that we can do going into the next game at home.
‘We know that our fans will be there over and over again. They’ve been behind us, they push us.
‘Next game we have to go there and win that game.’
According to Fernandes, the ‘individual quality’ of City ultimately proved the ‘difference’ in the derby.
‘I said at half-time that I felt that the team was doing everything to we could to defend our box,’ the Portugal international dded.
‘We know at moments we needed to defend deep and be together, be compact and help each other.
‘We did that but obviously but today the difference was the individual quality from the players of City that made them win the game.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE : Why Erik ten Hag threw a water bottle in disgust during Manchester derby
MORE : Kyle Walker reveals Phil Foden’s nickname behind goal celebration after Manchester derby masterclass
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
