Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scored hat-tricks as Manchester City thrashed Manchester United 6-3 in a derby on Sunday.

Within four minutes it took two goal-line clearances and a fine save from David de Gea to deny Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, and Bernardo Silva the opening goal.

Four minutes later, City did open the floodgates when Foden swept home Silva’s cross for the Manchester native’s first derby goal.

Ilkay Gundogan’s free-kick hit the post and Foden, who has not scored against United before, blasted another big chance wide before Haaland inevitably made his mark.

United were left to bemoan the absence of Raphael Varane to defend a De Bruyne corner as he received treatment on an ankle injury that forced him off at half-time.

Without the Frenchman, there was no match for Haaland’s presence in the penalty box as his header crossed the line before Tyrell Malacia’s attempted clearance.

Moments later, City showcased their ability to counter-attack as Jack Grealish fed De Bruyne, who perfectly picked out Haaland to convert on the stretch at the back post.

Haaland then turned provider with a low cross that Foden converted to leave United trailing 4-0 at half-time for the third time in a year.

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Unlike, in a 5-0 defeat at Old Trafford to Liverpool last season and at Brentford last month, there was some semblance of a United response after the break.

Antony smashed home his second goal in as many Premier League appearances since a £82 million ($92 million) move from Ajax.

But Haaland quickly retook centre stage with a thumping finish to meet Sergio Gomez’s cross.

City were on course to match the record margin of victory in a Manchester derby when Haaland set up Foden to smash home and complete his hat-trick.

That was Foden’s final involvement as he was withdrawn in a quadruple change as Guardiola could afford to also hand a rest to De Bruyne, Gundogan and Grealish.

United took advantage of City taking their foot off the accelerator in the final 10 minutes as substitute Martial scored twice to cut the arrears.

The Frenchman bravely headed in the rebound after Ederson parried Fred’s shot and then emphatically fired home from the penalty spot.

The result took City back to within a point of Premier League leaders Arsenal, while United remain sixth.

“It wasn’t bad… we scored six goals. What can you say? It’s amazing. It’s nice. You can see that we always want to go forward and attack.

“This is what I love about the team. We always want to attack. I think we have to have two match balls for man of the match.

“One ball for the first half and one ball for the second half,” Haaland said after the match.

Manchester City 6-3 Manchester United was the highest ever scoring Manchester derby in any competition, with today the two sides’ 187th competitive meeting.

This was the first time that Manchester City scored six goals in a home game against Manchester United in all competitions, while the previous two instances of City scoring six versus United came away from home (6-1 in January 1926 and 6-1 in October 2011).

Manchester United conceded six goals in a Premier League game for only the fourth time, with two of these coming against Manchester City (also October 2011). It was also the fifth time they had lost a Premier League game when scoring as many as three goals (all defeats came away from home).

Since the start of 2020-21, United have conceded 4+ first-half goals in four Premier League games (v Spurs in October 2020, Liverpool in October 2021, Brentford in August 2022, Man City today); this is twice as often as any other side in this time.

The Star