United reax

Kevin McCarra, The Guardian

The match, all the same, held other ­stories that the victors will rejoice in retelling. They had, after all, come back from a goal down to attain this joy. It is much too soon to tell whether City have been transformed but Tevez is certainly in the midst of an astonishing spell.

He altered the whole nature of this game. The equaliser in the 42nd minute was perplexing since the visitors dominated the first half as if their opponents had never been drenched in the torrent of Sheikh Mansour's wealth. United displayed a command they had not necessarily enjoyed even when City were downright poor.

Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph

The atmosphere had been crackling from before the off, the enmity between these neighbours inescapable. Already a guttural roar, the noise intensified when City paraded some greats of yesteryear, members of their 1969-70 side, including Franny Lee, Mike Summerbee and the peerless Colin Bell.

Unfortunately for Man City’s impassioned support, the heirs to Nijinsky’s thoroughbred tradition were too slow out of the starting gate, sitting too deep, seemingly too imbued with caution.

Sam Wallace, The Independent

When Tevez scored his second after the break he already had his celebration in mind, pushing team-mates out the way to stand in front of the United bench with his hands cupped behind his ears. If you think you have seen that one before, you have. Tevez did the same to the Old Trafford directors' box after a goal against City last season and by last night his protests were starting to get tiresome.

What was not in doubt was that an already edgy atmosphere has been given a new dimension by Tevez, the man who crossed the city from the red side to the blue last summer. Having played for them for two years Tevez would do well to remember that the time to stick two fingers up to United is when they are definitively, irrevocably beaten – not when they have 90 minutes at home to rescue the tie.

Matt Lawton, Daily Mail

The advantage is with City. Not by much when the away goal United scored could yet prove decisive if the scores are level at the end of extra time next week. But it is an advantage Mancini should be content with after rather bullishly declaring that City could soon supersede United as the biggest club in Manchester.

Old Trafford should prepare for another classic contest. A contest that could yet rival that seven-goal thriller in September Ferguson considers the greatest Manchester derby in history.