Danilo: Manchester United needed "long balls" to beat Manchester City

Manchester City full-back Danilo has claimed that Manchester United resorted to route-one football to come out on top in Saturday's clash.

The Red Devils produced a memorable second-half comeback to recover from two goals down and win 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium, delaying their rivals' title celebrations.

Danilo refuses to accept that United were the better side on the day, though, and says it was simply a case of the opposition using "long balls" to catch his side out.

Asked if the visitors were simply too good in the second half, the Brazilian told CityTV: "I don't agree with you because if you see the statistics of the game, you analyse the game, we had the ball possession, we had the control.

"They just used the long balls, they scored three goals and that all happened today. We played the same way we done all the season, we kept the same level of performance, but today it didn't work.

"I could tell you many, many reasons why we didn't win today. It could be missing chances but at the end of the day they scored three goals, we scored two and that's all that counts.

"But we must be together. When we win, we win together and when we lose, we lose together. We need to keep going and [keep] the heads up."

Man City last lost a Premier League game from two goals ahead in October 2008.