Patrice Evra will never forget his Manchester United debut, just for all the wrong reasons.

The French full-back joined the Red Devils from Ligue 1 side AS Monaco on January 10 and four days later - eight years ago today - he lined up in a four-man defence that took on rivals Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

However, what should have been a proud moment for Evra quickly turned into a nightmare. He was dealt a torrid afternoon and by the break City were 2-0 up thanks to goals from winger Trevor Sinclair and striker Darius Vassell.

That was enough for United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who hauled off his new signing during the 15-minute interval - the ultimate insult for a professional footballer.

"I remember that game very, very well," Evra has since said in an interview. "At one point the ball went out from a corner and I remember thinking, 'Pat, what are you doing here?' The game was so quick, everyone was so strong and the whole thing was just too difficult."

The switch, which saw Alan Smith enter the action, didn't alter the outcome. Cristiano Ronaldo was red-carded for a wild lunge on former United frontman Andy Cole in the 66th minutes, although soon after the visitors did reduce the arrears.

Ryan Giggs crossed for Ruud van Nistelrooy, who chested the ball down and then fired into the bottom corner of David James's net.

It prompted United to push forward in search of an equaliser, but that consequently left gaps in the United defence. City were able to exploit those in stoppage time when Vassell created a chance for Robbie Fowler and the former Liverpool centre-forward curled an effort beyond the reach of Edwin van der Sar.

"We had taken one point out of the previous 12 and, to face United and put in a performance like that, I am really pleased for us. Our players were the ones who were up for a derby match, up for a real scrap. I've always had confidence in our players," said City boss Stuart Pearce after the match.

Meanwhile, Ferguson added: "We've been in very good form but in fairness we didn't play well enough in the first half. We gave the ball away to them too much and our play in the last third just wasn't good enough. The crosses into the box were easy to deal with and we should be doing much better than that."

MAN CITY: James; Jihai, Dunne (Onuoha), Distin, Jordan; Sinclair, Barton, Ireland, Riera (Musampa); Cole (Fowler), Vassell

MAN UNITED: Van der Sar; Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Evra (Smith); Ronaldo, Fletcher (Saha), O'Shea (Richardson), Giggs; Rooney, Van Nistelrooy