Manchester City youngsters troll Manchester United by copying Cristiano Ronaldo's celebrations in thumping win
Manchester City's Under-21 team thumped rival Manchester United 6-1 on Sunday, with young striker Carlos Borges scoring four.
Reuters/Craig Brough; Getty/Matt McNulty
- Manchester City's Under-21 team thumped rival Manchester United 6-1 on Sunday.
- Two of City's goalscorers followed their goals by copying Cristiano Ronaldo's celebrations.
- Ronaldo has recently adopted a new goal celebration in which he mimics being asleep.
Manchester City youngsters Carlos Borges and Will Dickson trolled Manchester United by copying Cristiano Ronaldo's goal celebrations in a thumping win over the Red Devils on Sunday.
Borges netted an incredible four goals as City's Under-21 side defeated its rivals 6-1 at Leigh Sports Village.
After his third goal in the 80th minute, which made it 4-1 to City, Borges, 18, ran to the corner and mimicked being asleep, which is how Ronaldo has celebrated each of his last two Manchester United goals.
Five minutes later, Dickson, 17, then scored to make it 5-1 and celebrated by performing Ronaldo's iconic "SIUUU" celebration – jumping in the air and screaming as he landed.
"It is the first time in my career that I have scored four and to do it in a derby, I'm buzzing," said Borges after the match.
"I am delighted but it is the lads out there that are helping me day-in-day-out, it gives me motivation to help the team."
Getty/Matt McNulty
It was bad weekend at the office for Manchester United.
On the same day its Under-21 team was swept aside by City, United's first team also lost 3-1 to Aston Villa in the English Premier League.
Erik ten Hag's men went two goals down at Villa Park within just 11 minutes, thanks to a strike from Leon Bailey and a free-kick from defender Lucas Digne.
A deflected own-goal from Villa's Jacob Ramsey just before the break gave United hope, however, the English midfielder atoned for the accident immediately after halftime, thumping home a superb strike from the middle of the box to complete the scoring.
The defeat for United, its first in the EPL since early October, saw it miss out on the opportunity to go level on points with fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur.
"We lost the game at the start of the first half, start of the second half. That's not acceptable," said Ten Hag.
"You have to be ready for the game, we were not. We have to be more sharp. I said it was up to us. It was up to us. We didn't keep the ball. We let them run at the start of the game, we didn't get the right organization, but especially we didn't follow the rules in defending and we lost battles. It's not acceptable. A player has to take responsibility to be ready. It looked like they were fresher, and that's never acceptable."
He added: ''It is a setback. This is a process, and I know it will not only go up. Setbacks will come and we have to deal with that.''
United also learned on Monday that FC Barcelona would be its opponent in knockout round of the Europa League playoffs next year.
The EPL side will face Barcelona twice in February for a place in the tournament's Round of 16.
Reacting to the news, Barcelona manager Xavi said the match against United would be a "massive challenge" for his side.
"We will have to compete, going to Manchester against a really top rival and an historic side, which has grown a lot with the arrival of [Erik] ten Hag," said the Spaniard.
"[They have] great individual players, and it is the toughest rival once again in the Europa League."