Coming into this game, United had more to worry about than just the 2-1 deficit from the previous leg. This was the best chance in years for City to win a trophy, and United fans certainly didn’t want the fail-counter to end at 33. A lot was at stake last night, especially after enemy number one Carlos Tevez provided a great individual performance to rub salt into the Manchester United wounds. So it was no surprise, even in the wake of a crucial fixture against Arsenal in the weekend, to see that Sir Alex had picked a very strong side to face the bitters. Nani once again resumed his role on the right side of midfield, after his superb performance in the league game against Hull, and Ryan Giggs started on the left side. As expected, the manager went with a 4-5-1 formation, with Carrick, Scholes and Fletcher playing through the centre. 4-goal hero Wayne Rooney led the attack, and Rio Ferdinand’s decision to appeal his FA charge meant that he was available to play at the centre of defence. This game had fans waiting for days, so additional security measures were required in the event of any crowd related problems. The pre-match atmosphere resembled that against Barcelona in the European Cup 2 years ago, red and gold displayed all around the stadium and fans waiting in uncontrollable excitement. The next 90 minutes had the potential to define the season, and indeed the future for both these clubs, and soon enough, the two great rivals of Manchester kicked off.

For all the initial pressure from the team in red however, shots on target were limited to the occasional strike from outside the box. Rooney did well to shift past Nigel de Jong, but Shay Given easily collected his shot from outside the box. Roberto Mancini decided to retain more or less the same team as in the first leg, with de Jong playing as a cover for the defensive line of Micah Richards, Vincent Kompany, young Boyata and Javier Garrido. This tactic seemed to be working well for Mancini, because really, a 0-0 would suit them just fine. Nani seemed to carry on his performance from his last game against Hull, and caused Garrido endless problems down the right with his pace and trickery, coupled with the overlapping support provided by Rafael. There was some controversy soon after, when Tevez went down in a chase for the ball against Rio Ferdinand, claiming that the defender has elbowed him in the face. As if his unpopularity wasn’t already enough, this seemingly innocuous challenge , was seen as an attempt by Tevez to get one better on his old side, and the fans absolutely hated him for it.

Surprisingly, however, the first real chance of the game fell for City. Bellamy collected the ball on the left and Rafael was too far forward to do anything about it. He whipped in a perfect cross for Tevez, but his diving header was turned round the post by van der Sar brilliantly. The Stretford End was really made to hold its breath, as nothing could be worse than Tevez scoring at that end. The onus was on United to score, and there was an immediate reply from the team when Darren Fletcher laid off the ball to Ryan Giggs, but Given was once again on hand to deny the opening goal. Thus ended the first half with the score at 0-0, and the tie still in favour of Manchester City. But this was Old Trafford, and the fans were up for it, and really, they were treated by one of the best second halves in a game this season.

The City players started brightly, and were certainly not playing as defensively as they had done in the first half. Micah Richards, who was having a good game in defence, stole ball off Rooney and charged forward. His left footed shot went curling towards the top corner, but van der Sar defied his age stretched all the way top tip the ball out for the corner. A shameful incident then followed, as far as the United fans were concerned. Bellamy, never a crowd favourite at any ground went to take a corner, when he was pelted with missiles and bottles from the crowd. It was only after van der Sar’s intervention that the situation cooled down, but this will be another cause for concern for United, as the FA will surely investigate this matter further. And rightly so – no matter how deep the rivalry is, there is no place for such acts in football, it only ends up giving the crowd and the club a bad name.

This incident was soon forgotten though, when United finally managed to score and and level the tie on aggregate. Rooney found Giggs with a pass that was simply out of this world, and Giggs held the ball up for some support to arrive, which eventually did in the form of Nani. His miscontrol of the ball fell to Carrick, who laid it off for Scholes at the edge of the area, who hit it past Given via a deflection. This was enough to ensure that the away goal rule came to play, but United have never been a team to back down from increasing the lead. This is precisely what happened on 71 minutes when a lapse in City defending allowed Fletcher to pass the ball to Carrick, who made it 2-0 with a cool pass into the far corner of the net. The tie could then have been sealed just moments later when some good link up play between Giggs an Evra saw the Frenchman send a nasty ball into the box, but somehow Rooney was unable to find his feet, and fluffed it wide from about 4 yards out. Some said that this could prove to be costly, as a 1 goal lead (on aggregate) is always a dangerous one.

Unfortunately for the United, this is precisely what happened, and worst of al, it was Carlos Tevez at it again. Given played a long ball to Tevez, who controlled it on his chest and sprayed it out to Bellamy. The Welsh winger then crossed it into the box, and some skilful (and perhaps lucky) improvisation from the Argentinean made it 2-1 on the night, wiping away the away goal that United had in hand. He perhaps risked his safety a bit when he decided to celebrate in front of the United fans, but really the City fans were loving this, singing their usual “Fergie, Fergie sign him up”. Carrick then had another great opportunity to regain the lead, but he dragged his left-footed shot wide of Shay Given’s post.

Sir Alex then decided to mix things a bit, taking off the effective Nani for Antonio Valencia. Keeping in mind the weekend fixture against Arsenal, Sir Alex did not want to go through another 30 minutes if he could avoid it, so United’s style became more attacking, Valencia immediately made an impact by earning a corner. Taken by Giggs, it was initially cleared before Scholes played it out to Giggs again, whose dummy took the ball past Zabaleta, and sent in another cross, this time met by the head of Darren Fletcher. When it seemed as though it would be a certainly, Given pulled off yet another world-class save, the kind that people have come to expect of him. This only resulted in another corner though, and into stoppage time, it was taken shorter. The ball then once again fell to Ryan Giggs, who sent in a pretty much undefendable ball, for Wayne Rooney to make up for his earlier miss, and head the ball into the net from 3 yards out, and win the game and the tie for United. The United fans were sent into raptures, and Rooney celebrated this goal as though it were the most important one of his career yet. Another stoppage time winner against the bitters, and surely this time, they cannot blame it on the officials.

The game witnessed one of the best atmospheres at Old Trafford in a long time, and what was more encouraging to see (or hear) was that there were more pro-United chants than anti-Glazer ones. The well known chant can now roll onto 34 years. Once again, it has been proven that the moon might be blue, but Manchester IS RED.

Best Moment: Rooney’s winner

Worst Moment(s): Tevez’s goal, the missile throwing from the crowd

Man of the Match: Darren Fletcher

Written by Sownak27