Published 10/23/2011 12:44:32 PM by Shane Barrow from soccermogul

Wow!  Who could have seen this one coming.  A total Manchester City massacre in the Manchester derby leaves Manchester United in shambles.  

City came straight out and kept a huge crowd at Old Trafford quiet and sitting on their hands from the opening whistle.  United were never really dangerous as City were on the front foot all afternoon.  Young Mario Balotelli opened the scoring in the 22nd minute of play as he tapped in a ball from James Milner.  ManU tried to answer back before halftime but could muster only a couple of longer range shots straight to keeper Joe Hart.

The second opened and things went from bad to worse for the home side as Balotelli got in behind the United defense and Jonny Evans grabbed hold pulling him down.  A straight red card for the ManU defender and United is down a goal and a man with basically the whole second half left to play.  It took City awhile to cash in on the advantage though, but when they did the goals rained down.  In the 60th minute City got their breathing room and once again it was the superb work of David Silva and James Milner setting up Balotelli to score from close range.

Manchester United were really against it now and there would be no way back.  Less than ten minutes later Aguero made it 3 as he tapped in a cross from Micah Richards.  Almost a carbon copy of Balotelli's second goal.  United grabbed one back on a wonderful Darren Fletcher strike, but things were going to get much worse at Old Trafford.  Much worse.

City added three goals in the final minutes as Dzeko added a pair and David Silva another to push the rout to 6-1.  A horrible day for Manchester United and a day that turns the EPL standings on their head.  City now sits 5 points clear at the top and also banked a load of valuable goal differential against their crosstown rivals.  How does United respond and get up off the mat from this one?

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