Michael Carrick in Manchester derbies as a player

Michael Carrick played 24 Manchester derbies for Manchester United between December 2006 and April 2017, and won 12 of them. Two draws and 10 defeats make up the rest, an even return for a midfielder who won five league titles in the same 12 years. The timing explains it. He arrived while United were still clear of their neighbours and left after City had won the league twice. That shift is why the Man United vs Man City betting read so differently by the end of his career.

His wider record against City

Across his whole career Carrick faced City 31 times, winning 17, drawing three and losing 11, according to Transfermarkt. Seven of those meetings came in his West Ham and Tottenham years, before he moved to Manchester, and they brought five wins, one draw and one defeat. His record against City was better before he joined United than during his 12 seasons there.

His first derby was a 3-1 win

Carrick signed from Tottenham in July 2006 and his first derby came on 9 December that year, in central midfield alongside Paul Scholes. Wayne Rooney scored after six minutes, Louis Saha added a second on the stroke of half time and Cristiano Ronaldo finished it on 84 minutes, after Hatem Trabelsi had replied for City. A crowd of 75,858 watched at Old Trafford. United won the title that May, the first of Carrick’s five.

He scored in two of themThe first came off the bench in a defeat. On 10 February 2008, the afternoon United wore replica 1958 shirts to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, Darius Vassell and Benjani put City two up by half time, and Carrick struck from 18 yards in the second minute of stoppage time, too late to save a 2-1 defeat.

The second settled a tie. On 27 January 2010 he made it 2-0 in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg at Old Trafford, 19 minutes after Scholes had opened. Carlos Tevez replied five minutes later, then Rooney’s header two minutes into stoppage time sent United through 4-3 on aggregate.

The wins that stood out

Rooney’s overhead kick on 12 February 2011 is the most replayed goal from any derby Carrick featured in, though he watched it from the bench and came on for Scholes a minute later. Nani scored the first in a 2-1 win.

He started the two biggest league wins of his time in the fixture. Rooney scored twice inside 29 minutes at the Etihad on 9 December 2012, Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta levelled, and Robin van Persie’s deflected free kick won it 3-2 in the second minute of added time. That took United six points clear, and no other result in 2012-13 moved the Premier League odds as far in one afternoon.

The other was 4-2 at Old Trafford on 12 April 2015. Sergio Aguero scored after eight minutes, Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Juan Mata and Chris Smalling replied, and Carrick limped off on 87 minutes with all three substitutes used. Aguero scored for City again in the 89^th minute, but it was not enough to overturn the four scored by United.

The derbies he missed

United’s 1-6 home defeat on 23 October 2011, their worst in the fixture at Old Trafford since 1926, is the one Carrick had no part in. He also missed the 3-2 comeback at the Etihad in April 2018, his final season as a player. His own last derby was the goalless draw at City on 27 April 2017, which he captained at 35.

His first derby as a manager

Carrick was appointed United head coach until the end of the season on 13 January 2026, and his first match, four days later, was the 198th Manchester derby. United won 2-0 at Old Trafford, through Bryan Mbeumo on 65 minutes and Patrick Dorgu on 76, and moved into the top four. It was their first home league win over City since January 2023. “Today was special,” Carrick said. He finished third that season and was given the job permanently.

Twelve wins in 24 as a player, one in one as a manager. The derby has kept rewarding whoever was better on the day rather than whoever was better over a season. Betting is for over-18s only.