But for Pep Guardiola, Michael Carrick might have been a triple Champions League winner. A Manchester derby is a meeting of deep-lying midfielders of different generations.
Carrick was more Spanish-style schemer than a traditionally English box-to-box bustler. He attracted an admirer in the man who will be in the opposite dugout on Saturday. In 2017, Guardiola called Carrick “one of the best holding midfielders I've ever seen in my life”.
