Manchester United have spent £1.53 billion on signing 138 players since 2015. Manchester City have spent £1.51 billion on 201 players since 2016. Each club has spent amounts greater than the GDP of 22 countries.
The Premier League is a billionaire's playing ground, with nation-states also bankrolling clubs. The best footballers in the world, bought for astronomical amounts and being paid weekly wages that their supporters in the stands would never see in a lifetime.
The sight of everyday folk cheering on millionaire footballers who have little in common with them isn't really one for romantics. And yet, the Manchester Derby, between two of the most moneyed clubs in the world was decided by two footballers who were born minutes from the City of Manchester stadium, and cost their clubs nothing to sign.
Marcus Rashford has been at United since the age of seven, and Phil Foden at City since the age of four. They know exactly what those in the stands demand in a derby, and what it means. It was almost poetic that they lit up their home derby, surrounded by talent worth billions on the football pitch.
Rashford hasn't had an easy time of it of late - his fans have been generous with the brickbats aimed at him as he's struggled to replicate his form of last season. A revealing interview ahead of the game heightened the stakes - Rashford noting his commitment to his boyhood club ought to never be questioned.
And for those who'd do it anyway, he delivered the perfect answer - and how.
It was a hopeful punt forward seven minutes and 30 seconds into the game. Andre Onana spied Bruno Fernandes making a forward run and whacked a long ball forward. The Manchester United captain was being shadowed by Ruben Diaz, and as he brought the ball under his control and turned back to shield the ball, there seemed little danger.
Manchester is BLUE ��
Highlights from our 3-1 win in the Manchester derby! �� pic.twitter.com/W6USngt3PE
- Manchester City (@ManCity) March 3, 2024
Scott McTominay made a darting run into the box, taking Rodri with him, and suddenly there was space in the middle of the park...with Rashford heading into that gap. The layoff from Bruno was obvious - the ball delivered with the message 'Go on son, have at it'.
Everyone watching knew what was coming next, and yet, Rashford's strike managed to take the breath away. All of his anger, hurt and frustration this season crystallised into his right foot and he let fly. A strike so pure, it rocketed straight towards the top corner - crashing in off the underside of the bar and into the net - with Ederson having no chance of saving it.
The small corner of United fans in the Etihad stadium could dream again - seven minutes and 40 seconds into the derby - they had an unlikely lead, delivered to them by one of their own. It felt like a script, Rashford providing *that* moment, after the season he's had, after *that* interview. Cemented all the more by Erling Haaland, of all people, scooping the ball over from a couple of yards out with the goal at his mercy right before half-time.
1-0 United led - and they'd not lost any of their last 143 Premier League games when leading at halftime. City had never overturned a half-time derby deficit in Premier League history. The omens were there for a famous win.
Cue Phil Foden.
It was a day for Mancunians, and Foden decided to rip apart Rashford's script in the 56th minute. Receiving the ball from Rodri on the right edge of the box, Foden faced up to makeshift left-back Victor Lindelof. As old-school, a one-on-one duel in the age of transitions and positional rotations. And an old-school solution as well - Foden dropping a shoulder before cutting inside on his left. Lindelof was scrambling to cover the inevitable, but it was too late. Foden took an extra touch to fashion another yard, before letting fly with his laces of his left boot.
That same bolt, a la Rashford, this time right into the top corner, with Onana diving only in despair. The game, and Mancunians, level at 1-1.
Pep Guardiola had dubbed Foden the Player of the Season and the Englishman showed why in the 80th minute. Receiving the ball in the left channel, Foden employed a skill he's become a master of - the half-touch. Casemiro was five metres away but was lured in, and Foden turned that half-touch into a pass towards Julian Alvarez and set off.
By the time Casemiro had turned, Foden was five meters away, but the other way this time, running into the box and receiving the return pass from Alvarez. His first touch took him past Raphael Varane and as he prepared to shoot, there was Lindelof again, scrambling to get a block in, and failing again, a micro-second short.
Foden had only one narrow path towards goal with his strike and found it - the ball squeezing under Onana's outstretched palm and nestling into the bottom corner. The blue half of Manchester had delivered a killing blow to their red counterparts, and it was Foden doing the same to Rashford. The headlines, the win, the bragging rights, all his.
Even if a Norwegian lad born in Leeds tried to steal the spotlight with a late goal, this day was all about Manchester, not money. A rare win for the footballing romantic, delivered via the boots of the two best Mancunian footballers on the planet.