How Manchester United’s derby defeat ended a 10-year, 143-game unbeaten Premier League run

Manchester United fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of cross-city rivals Manchester City last night, registering their 11th league defeat of the season.

The travelling United faithful were sent into hysterics when Marcus Rashford fired home the most outrageous strike to open the scoring in just the eighth minute of the game. 

It was, however, later rendered in vain as a second-half brace from Phil Foden gave City the lead on their home turf before Erling Haaland put the game to bed in injury time.

As per a statistic shared by the Premier League, the Reds’ derby defeat saw a 10-year record consisting of 143 matches come to an end, which is the number of games United had gone without losing when leading at the interval. 

The last time such a feat occurred was back in September 2014 when goals from Robin van Persie and Angel Di Maria had United 2-1 up away to Leicester City after 45 minutes, after which they went on to sustain a shock 5-3 loss.

Man Utd’s loss to Man City ended a 10-year run of 143 matches without defeat when leading at half-time 🤯 pic.twitter.com/tbUrSSPPZH

— Premier League (@premierleague) March 4, 2024

Fortunately, the Old Trafford record (never losing a league match when leading at half-time) still stands. For now.