Ask a United fan and a City fan to pick one team between them and you'll get two answers and a falling out. Twenty years ago this would have been eleven United players and a token Colin Bell. Not any more. Guardiola's City won six league titles in seven seasons, and a few of those players would walk into any Manchester side ever picked.
It's a derby, so the derbies count for something here. Michael Owen's winner in the 96th minute of a 4-3 at Old Trafford in September 2009. City winning 6-1 on the same ground two years later. You'll find both below, and a few more.
I've judged everyone only on what they did for the club in question, so Kevin De Bruyne at Chelsea and Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid don't count. Years in brackets are time at that club.
The XI
4-3-3. It came out six United, five City. Half of you will think that's generous to City and the other half will think I've been bought.
Goalkeeper
Peter Schmeichel (United 1991 to 1999). 292 league games and five titles at United, and he was captain on the night in Barcelona in 1999. Ederson changed how City played out from the back and has a real case.
He also played for City. Schmeichel spent 2002-03 at Maine Road, 29 league games, and he was in goal when City beat United 3-1 in the last derby there, Shaun Goater scoring twice. Not a season United fans tend to bring up.
Defence
Neville or Walker is the closest call in the side. Gary Neville played 400 league games at right back for United and never let a winger have a quiet afternoon. I've gone Kyle Walker (City 2017 to 2025), because Guardiola's high line only worked with someone that quick behind it, and he did that job through six titles and the 2023 treble. Ask me on a different day and I might say Neville.
Rio Ferdinand (United 2002 to 2014) and Vincent Kompany (City 2008 to 2019) in the middle. One from each side, which is tidy, but I'd have picked these two anyway. Ferdinand was bringing the ball out of defence long before every centre half was told to, and he played 312 league games for United.
Kompany gets the longer story. April 2012, United three points clear with a handful of games left, and City at home in the derby. Just before half-time he rose at a corner and headed the only goal of the game. City went top on goal difference and stayed there. Seven years later, with the title on the line again, he picked the ball up 30 yards out against Leicester and smashed one into the top corner, a centre half who hardly ever shot. That's two titles more or less won by the captain. Vidić and Rúben Dias both have a case, but neither has that.
Denis Irwin, left back (United 1990 to 2002). Left back has never been either club's strongest spot. Irwin played 368 league games, took the free kicks and penalties for a while, and was there from the first title in 26 years right through to the treble.
Midfield
This is the call I've gone back and forth on most. Rodri or Roy Keane.
In a derby, I'd want Keane. He captained United for eight years and nobody on the other side ever looked forward to playing him. Over a season, though, Rodri (City, signed 2019) is the one I'd pick. He scored the only goal of the 2023 Champions League final in Istanbul, he won the Ballon d'Or in 2024, and City barely lost a game with him in the side. With Charlton and De Bruyne next to him, somebody has to keep the ball, and Rodri never seems to give it away. I'd want Keane in the tunnel. I'd want Rodri on the ball. I'm not fully sure I've got it right.
Kevin De Bruyne (City 2015 to 2025) is the best passer either club has had, and I don't think it's close.
Bobby Charlton (United 1953 to 1973) scored twice in the 1968 European Cup final at Wembley, ten years after he survived Munich. He played 606 league games for United. Putting him next to De Bruyne feels a bit greedy. I'm doing it anyway.
Attack
George Best (United 1963 to 1974) on the right. He scored in the 1968 final against Benfica, going round the keeper in extra time, and in 1970 he came back from a suspension and scored six in one FA Cup tie at Northampton.
Sergio Agüero (City 2011 to 2021) up the middle. You know the goal. Last day of 2011-12, City needing to beat QPR, 2-1 down going into stoppage time. Džeko equalises, then Balotelli, on the ground, pokes it into Agüero's path and he goes past one man and hits it into the near side of the net at 93:20. City won their first league title in 44 years, and United, who'd already won at Sunderland, found out on the pitch. He left as City's record goalscorer. Haaland may end up with bigger numbers, but nobody is beating that moment.
Cristiano Ronaldo (United 2003 to 2009) on the left, coming inside. He scored 42 goals in all competitions in 2007-08 and headed United in front in the Moscow final, and that's the Ronaldo I mean, not the one who came back in 2021.
Manager
Sir Alex Ferguson. Thirteen league titles and two European Cups, with about four different teams. Guardiola has the 100 points and the treble, and if you go for him I won't argue for long. I'm going on the longer run.
Close but not quite
Colin Bell hurts the most. They called him Nijinsky, after the racehorse, because he never stopped running, and he did it for the 1968 title side. Then a knee injury in a League Cup derby in November 1975 took his best years. If Charlton weren't in the way, he'd be in.
Wayne Rooney gets the derby goal everyone remembers. February 2011, 1-1 at Old Trafford, Nani's cross takes a deflection and Rooney throws himself into an overhead kick that flies into the top corner. United won 2-1. He's United's record scorer too. But there's one centre forward spot, I'd still take 93:20 over that overhead kick, and the left side belongs to Ronaldo.
Francis Lee won the league in 1968, scored a penalty in the 1970 Cup Winners' Cup final and won so many penalties that some journalists called him "Lee Won Pen".
Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane. Giggs played 672 league games for United, more than anyone. Scholes played 499 and Keane 326. Leaving out all three is the decision United fans will hate, and I'm not sure it's right either.
David Silva and Eric Cantona are the two I'd most like to squeeze in. Cantona arrived in November 1992 and United won the league for the first time since 1967 that season. Silva made City worth watching before they were winning everything, and he was all over the 6-1 at Old Trafford in October 2011. He scored one late on and then volleyed a pass first time over the top for Džeko to make it six.
Erling Haaland scored 36 Premier League goals in 2022-23, a record for a single season. Give it a few more years.
Also unlucky: Nemanja Vidić, Rúben Dias, Mike Summerbee, Duncan Edwards and Bert Trautmann.
The ones who played for both
Denis Law. City from 1960 to 1961, then 309 league games and the 1964 Ballon d'Or at United, then back to City for one last season. His back-heel at Old Trafford in April 1974 won the game for City. United went down that season, though results elsewhere meant they would have gone down anyway. Law didn't celebrate.
Carlos Tevez. Two titles and the 2008 Champions League with United, where he scored in the shootout in Moscow. In 2009 he crossed the city, City put up a "Welcome to Manchester" billboard, and in 2011 he lifted the FA Cup as City captain. If you're building a Tevez XI, you need two kits.
Andy Cole (United 1995 to 2001, City 2005 to 2006), Brian Kidd, who scored on his 19th birthday in the 1968 final before joining City, Peter Barnes, Owen Hargreaves and, from before the First World War, Billy Meredith, who played over 300 league games for each.
Build your own
If your house is split down the middle, you can build your own version in our team builder. Pick any players from either club, choose the formation, kits and pitch, add a title and a message, and we'll email a proof before it's printed. It settles nothing but looks good on the wall. There are classic team prints in the Manchester United collection and the Manchester City collection too.