Manchester derby: Debuts for Evra, Riera
Patrice Evra and Albert Riera were thrown into the cauldron of Manchester derby day at Eastlands as Alex Ferguson and Stuart Pearce handed the pair their debuts.
Riera, who joined City on loan from Espanyol, took up the left-sided midfield berth for the Blues, while Evra, who cost Ferguson £5million to capture from Monaco started at left-back in a Red Devils side lacking Alan Smith and Wes Brown.
Smith’s omission deprived a packed house of an explosive midfield battle with Joey Barton, while Mikael Silvestre partnered Rio Ferdinand in a United defence looking to avoid their third defeat in four at the home of their fierce city rivals.
Man City: James, Jihai, Dunne, Distin, Jordan, Sinclair, Barton, Ireland, Riera, Cole, Vassell. Subs: Fowler, Sibierski, Musampa, Onuoha, Croft.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Evra, Ronaldo, Fletcher, O’Shea, Giggs, Rooney, van Nistelrooy. Subs: Howard, Brown, Saha, Smith, Richardson.
Referee: S Bennett (Kent)
