Manchester United Raphael Varane says ‘everything is possible’ in the title race after derby victory

Raphael Varane says ‘everything is possible’ after Manchester United announced themselves as title contenders with a dramatic victory in the Old Trafford derby.

United trailed to Manchester City but stunned the champions with two goals in four minutes from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford to win 2-1 on Saturday.

Erik ten Hag’s side have moved to within one point of City although they trail leaders Arsenal by nine points and are in fourth place behind Newcastle on goal difference following Sunday’s games.

Raphael Varane celebrates Manchester United’s dramatic 2-1 victory over Manchester City

Asked if United can mount a title challenge, Varane said: ‘Everything is possible. We’ll just take it game by game. It’s a long way to go and it’s very difficult.

‘The intensity of every game is incredible, the physical effort. It’s like the same intensity of a big Champions League tie every game. The rhythm is very high. The players are very well prepared physically. We know how difficult it is. But we’re solid, we’re strong. We just need to use the quality players with the ball.’

Having lost the first derby of the season 6-3 to City at the Etihad in October, Varane revealed that United were well prepared to ‘hurt’ their opponents.

Bruno Fernandes scored a controversial equaliser for Manchester United on Saturday

‘We’re now much better than the last game (against City),’ added the France defender. ‘We know better now what the manager wants and how he wants to do it. We’ve seen the evolution in this team. It was a complete game at a high level.

‘You cannot leave a single second to chance against a team like City. We prepared so well tactically for this game with the manager. We spoke a lot with him and we knew exactly what we wanted to do.

‘We know that City play very well. They press and they have a lot of the ball. So we chose when to press and where to close the spaces. We knew where to hurt them and we have players who are very fast up front. We had to use our fast players.

Marcus Rashford then scored a late winner to secure a massive victory against their rivals

‘After the first goal, we didn’t let our heads drop, even though we conceded a goal in our home. But we also knew that we had the energy of the fans. We continued to follow our plan. Then we scored and that changed the whole game.’

The comeback sparked wild scenes inside Old Trafford, and Varane paid tribute to the United fans for their support.

‘It’s a stadium with a magnificent atmosphere – it’s amazing,’ he said. ‘At the end I felt a connection with the fans. We really want to win and to do that against a big rival, in our home. We live stronger with this. It was beautiful.’