ANDER HERRERA revealed a Churchillian rallying call from Manchester United’s old heads Michael Carrick and Ashley Young inspired their second-half fightback.
Jose Mourinho’s men were left embarrassed after a first 45 minutes when City scored twice and could have had several more.
It looked like the champions-elect were going to clinch the Premier League title by dishing out a thrashing to their rivals.
But Young, 32, and 36-year-old Carrick had some strong words to say during the interval — and it seemed to work a treat.
They talked about showing some pride and trying to spare their fans the ordeal of watching City celebrate their latest trophy right under their noses.
Herrera, who was last night embroiled in a spit storm, said: “Everyone was talking but of course the oldest guys with the most experience — Ash, Mike — were in the dressing room.
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“They have power in their words. We just talked about the pride, about the club, this club — you can never underestimate it.
“We didn’t talk too much about tactics, just about our pride. Our pride on the pitch and that our fans were going to have a difficult night if we got beaten.
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“We did it for them and of course for us and our position in the league — but overall for them.
“I was thinking at half-time that it was going to be difficult for our fans if we got beaten so I’m happy for them.”
There were no teacups thrown by Mourinho at half-time and his calm and composed speech was also well received by the United players. He surprised his stars with a relaxed approach during the break. They were expecting the Special One to lose it in the dressing room.
But he told his under-performers they were still in the game, that they could go on to win it and to remember they were playing for Manchester United and that anything was possible.
They responded after the break, with Paul Pogba scoring twice and Chris Smalling netting the winner.
As well as delaying City’s title party by a couple of weeks, the victory strengthened United’s hold on second place as closest rivals Liverpool also dropped points.
Herrera added: “Yes, it was very important for our position in the league.
“We want to finish second and build a stronger Manchester United for next season. That’s all. We think about ourselves.”
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Herrera also told Pogba to build on his amazing second-half showing and prove the doubters wrong.
He reckons his performance should be the £89million man’s first step towards proving why he was once the most expensive player in the world.
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Herrera said: “Paul can be the best in the world. I have already told him that he can be the best in the world and today can be the first step to achieve that because he is fantastic.
“He needed a day like today. As well as the two goals, I thought he played fantastic, in the second half he was just amazing.
“He always wants the ball, he never hides himself, so that is fantastic.”
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