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Manchester United defender Chris Smalling has revealed that manager Jose Mourinho offered a key piece of advice as they made a stunning comeback in the cross-town derby against Manchester City.
United looked to have surrended to an embarrassing 2-0 defeat to City at the break, but they came up with an astonishing reply during the second period to turn things around.
Paul Pogba scored a match-defining brace in the space of just two second-half minutes, and Smalling, who has been criticised for his performances of late, completed the comeback with powerful header off an Alexis Sanchez freekick.
Speaking after the game, Smalling indicated that Mourinho had very few words for the team, but urged them to stop standing at clowns in front of the Citizens.
"The manager didn’t have to say much at half time as we knew ourselves as players it was a poor performance," he is quoted as saying by Metro.
"He said that we didn’t want to be the clowns standing there watching them get their title. City have been fantastic here all season, but we stepped up and won the game."
The victory more or less secures the second place for United with a four-point gap over Liverpool with a game in hand, and they may now place their emphasis on securing trophy success via the FA Cup.
City, on the other hand, are set to have their title celebrations prolonged for a couple of games, and they face a difficult prospect of overturning a 3-0 deficit to Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday night.
Written by Sri Aswin
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