During yesterday’s Manchester derby, Antonio Valencia was fantastic. He ran at Manchester City left back Aleksanadar Kolarov all day, and often got the best of him.
The Ecuadorian’s presence was such a nuisance that Raheem Sterling would track back to attempt to stop Valencia, but this was to little or no effect.
He was also solid in defence. City were forced into taking off Sterling, and shifting Kevin de Bruyne over, to try and combat his aggressive play. Apart from a slight slip just after the switch occurred, Valencia also contained De Bruyne.
We was crucial to United attempting to attack and keeping a clean sheet.
Unfortunately he went down in the 81st minute and indicated to the bench that he needed to be subbed off.
Matteo Darmian came on to cover for the injured Red Devil and helped Manchester Untied finish the game with a clean sheet.
Louis van Gaal has told MUTV about Valencia’s injury:
“He had a kick on his foot in the first half and then I let Darmian warm up on the touchline.
“But then he played further. However, at the end, he could not continue.”
Manchester United’s injury list now reads as: Paddy McNair, Luke Shaw and, Antonio Valencia.
