Coach Ruben Amorim praised the fighting spirit of the Man United players after they came back to defeat Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League in midweek. And the same qualities were also shown by the "Red Devils" in the match against Man City in the Premier League.
To be fair, Man United's 2-1 victory over their city rivals was not a perfect performance. But just like in the Czech Republic, Man United found a way to win.
For much of the game, the Red Devils faced their third consecutive Premier League defeat for the first time since 2015. Amorim is also on the brink of a third consecutive defeat in a top European competition for the first time in his coaching career. It was not until Bruno Fernandes and Amad scored in turn that the away team's fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Amorim is not the type to get carried away with a result. He was very cautious in his assessment after the 4-0 win over Everton. The Portuguese tactician was alert enough to understand that Man United's problems cannot be solved by a win at the Etihad. However, this victory will give them an extremely important foundation.
Man United will have a series of difficult matches coming up for Christmas and New Year. Tottenham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal will be formidable challenges for Amorim's team. There is still a long way to go to rebuild Old Trafford, but the victory over Man City is a big statement.
Amorim made two important decisions when he left out strikers Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho against Man City. And his gambling was rewarded with Diallo shining brilliantly.
Whenever a manager leaves out a big player - in Amorim's case, two - he really needs the team to win. It will be a statement to the eliminated stars that they are not indispensable players.
And although Man United needed two late goals to win the Manchester derby, it was Amad who made the difference. The Ivorian player brought home a penalty and scored a beautiful goal just 2 minutes later.
Amorim admitted before the match that both Rashford and Garnacho had trained well, and his decision was not limited to what happened on the pitch. This clearly demonstrated that Rashford and Garnacho were not only eliminated due to recent form.
Having just moved from Sporting last month, Amorim is in his early days at Man United and needs to assert himself quickly with the club. But with Amad's huge contribution, Amorim is the clear winner after the gamble of his choice.
"It's unbelievable. I think we deserved this victory. It was a difficult match but we kept the faith until the last minute. This victory is very important for the team and the fans," Amorim said.
