Manchester United vs Manchester City: Wayne Rooney shoves Pep Guardiola during touchline confrontation

The scale of the occasion appeared to get the better of the United captain as he lashed out during the 23rd minute

(Reuters)

It was a fiery first half of football at Old Trafford as Pep Guardiola and Wayne Rooney clashed on the sideline during the 23rd minute.

It was Guardiola’s side who had drawn first blood as they stormed to a 2-0 lead within 35 minutes, courtesy of goals from Kevin de Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho.

For the first, City’s De Bruyne latched on to a clever flick on from 19-year-old Iheanacho, pushing it round a rather static looking Daley Blind within United's final third, before surging forward for a one-on-one with David de Gea.

Calmly and coolly, De Bruyne slotted the ball into the bottom left-hand corner to take the lead.

Matters went from bad to worse for United as Iheanacho added another with 10 minutes to go until half time to assert City’s dominance.

Under pressure from a well composed and disciplined City side, Rooney appeared to let the scale of the occasion get the better to him as he clashed with Pep Guardiola on the side line during the 23rd minute.

With the ball out of touch, the United captain confronted City’s manager who had claimed the ball and refused to hand it back.

Taking matters into his own hands, Rooney stepped up towards Guardiola before appearing to grapple and push him as he attempted to retrieve the ball.

This wasn’t the first time Guardiola has antagonised players on the pitch.

In 2010, Cristiano Ronaldo pushed the Catalan during a fiery El Clasico encounter after the Barcelona manager had attempted to stop the Real Madrid player taking a quick throw in.

It was Guardiola who had the last laugh that night though as his side went on to thump Madrid 5-0.