Manchester United suffered a 3-1 defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, leaving them trailing their cross-town rivals by 18 points in the standings.
Despite the loss, United manager Erik ten Hag, aged 54, dismissed the notion of a significant difference in class between the two teams.
The match saw Marcus Rashford score an early goal for United, but City responded with two goals from Phil Foden and a late strike from Erling Haaland, securing the victory for Pep Guardiola’s side.
City now sit just one point behind league leaders Liverpool.
This defeat marks the 11th consecutive season that United are set to finish below their rivals.
However, when questioned about whether the result highlighted the gap between the teams, Ten Hag adamantly disagreed, stating,
“No, I don’t think so, absolutely not.”We have many problems now with injuries, but we still had an opportunity. By a very small margin. We could have scored the second goal. You see, the gap is not that big.
“When we have everyone on board, we can be really competitive and we also showed, for instance, in the FA Cup final against them when it can be really close. But don’t forget this, City is, at the moment, the best team in the world.
United, who are sixth, next host Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.