Incredulous Pep Guardiola knew what was coming vs Manchester United - now he must prevent a repeat

Pep Guardiola turned to his bench and covered his face with his hands. If Manchester City's collapse against Feyenoord had forced him to scratch at his head, Matheus Nunes' five seconds of madness on derby day would have made him want to rip it clean off. Nunes' or his own.

City had been poor, but it was there good fortune to be playing a Manchester United side who were worse. There was little to like from the home side's performance, but with five minutes to go they were close to a morale-boosting victory that would have propelled them level with Arsenal in the Premier League table.

Then, that familiar collapse. United's toothless attack had never looked like scoring, but then this is the season for giving and City delivered a present giftwrapped and with a bow on top. Nunes' poor back pass played Amad in but Ederson had stalled him, only for Nunes to clumsily and foolishly barge into the attacker.

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It was as blatant a penalty as you will see and Guardiola could not believe it. He probably could believe what came next, because it's been happening for nearly two months. Once Bruno Fernandes' penalty hit the back of the net, the collapse was about to become total.

One Lisandro Martinez pass straight down the pitch allowed Amad in behind the defence. He beat Ederson to the bounce and finished from a cute angle. City had imploded again, just as they did at Sporting and Brighton and against Feyenoord. This one will hurt more than all of those combined.

This is the kind of defeat that can torpedo a season that was already veering wildly off the rails. With five minutes to go it felt like City might