Pep Guardiola revealed his delight at proving his doubters wrong as Manchester City beat Manchester United to open up an 11-point gap in the Premier League title race.
The much-anticipated 175th Manchester derby was comfortably the biggest game of the Premier League season, such was the need for Jose Mourinho's Reds to claw back their swashbuckling rivals.
But the gap between table-topping City and second-placed United grew to 11 points on Sunday as City triumphed 2-1 at Old Trafford, where Nicolas Otamendi volleyed home a second-half winner after Marcus Rashford had cancelled out David Silva's opener.
The untimely end to United's club record-equalling 40-match unbeaten home run strengthens their rivals' grip on the title after just 16 matches - of which they have won the last 14 in a row.
City put in another dominant away performance against a potential title rival having already beaten Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, and Guardiola praised his players for rising to the challenge of playing in the same style as his famous Barcelona team that won three La Liga titles and two Champions League trophies.
"The personality to play here is what I want," he told Sky Sports. "We can play this way in England. People said we couldn’t play the way we did in Barcelona in England but it is possible and we did it.
"I knew that last season. Always I believed we could do it. Everyone can play how they want, that’s why football is so beautiful. I’m happy to go to Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford and to beat them in this way.
"Football is incredible. We spoke about how to play United but never set-pieces offensively, and then we score two. Football is unpredictable.
"This win means a lot in the way we played for our confidence but in three days we go to Swansea in the winter time.
"We are going to face a lot of difficulties. In December it’s impossible to be champions but it’s good for us."