Rio Ferdinand of Manchester United

Rio Ferdinand, who played center back for Manchester United in the past, has admitted that the gap in quality between his old team and Manchester City is much wider than he had anticipated it to be before the game started.

The former England defender made the admission after observing Manchester United's cross-city rivals defeat Manchester United by a score of 6-3 at the Etihad Stadium on a Sunday afternoon. Phil Foden and Erling Haaland each scored a hat trick to put the Reds away for the day, leaving manager Erik ten Hag to ponder what must have been a terrible day at the office.

Despite having gone four weeks without a league match, United arrived at the Etihad Stadium having won their previous four Premier League matches in a row. This led to a high level of confidence among the team's players. Even though the Reds were considered to be underdogs, they were in a better position to challenge City than they were during their previous meeting in March.

However, they were blown away, prompting Ferdinand to provide an honest post-match assessment, in which he admitted that he thought United were closer to City than they actually are. Ferdinand's comments came after the match.

"Before this game started, I had a preconceived notion about the level of competition that existed between Manchester United and Manchester City. However, the gap between the two teams is much wider than I had anticipated," Rio Ferdinand admitted on his Twitter page. "Absolutely demolished... a chasm that has been created between the two sides in Manchester! We put up a good fight in the second half, but City stepped on the gas in the third quarter..."

Ferdinand later provided some additional context regarding the atmosphere that prevailed within his WhatsApp group, stating, "WhatsApp group's on fire... for all the wrong reasons."