Manchester United has gained some measure of revenge on neighbors Manchester City for the 6–1 defeat in October by knocking the defending champions out of the FA Cup at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Two goals from Wayne Rooney and one from Danny Welbeck saw the team in red three goals to the good at half time, thanks primarily to City captain and defensive lynchpin Vincent Kompany receiving a controversial red card with the game only 12 minutes old. But City reorganized their 10 men and pulled two goals back in the second half as United took their collective feet off the gas.
The main talking point prior to kick-off was the news that Paul Scholes had been coaxed out of retirement to try and add some much needed steel to the United midfield and would start on the bench. Chris Smalling returned to bolster the defense, allowing Antonio Valencia to take up his preferred position on the right flank.
City was without Mario Balotelli who is still troubled by an ankle problem, while Nigel De Jong deputized for the suspended Gareth Barry. The inspirational Yaya Toure, along with his brother Kolo, is on duty for the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations tournament and will be unavailable for a month.
City looked by far the more composed of the two sides in the first 10 minutes, yet it was the visitors who went ahead literally the first time they ventured into the City half.
Wayne Rooney was on the ball, played it out to Valencia on the right and continued his run to be in the perfect position to receive a typical quality cross from the Ecuador international. Rooney still had plenty to do, but managed to direct his header wide of City reserve keeper Costel Pontilimon and into the net.
Game Changer
Two minutes later came the defining incident of the afternoon, which essentially determined the final result. Kompany elected to contest a 50/50 ball with Nani by sliding in with both feet raised off the ground and two sets of studs showing. Nani fortunately saw him coming and jumped clear allowing Kompany to win the ball with no actual physical contact being made.
Nonetheless, the letter of the law dictates that feet raised off the ground with studs showing merits a red card and so the incident was interpreted by referee Chris Foy.
All but the most diehard United supporters felt the decision was harsh, particularly since no actual contact was made with Nani—let alone any injury—and a caution might have been more appropriate. But the referee had made his decision.
Despite this setback, the next chance of the game was carved out by City and a stinging drive from Kun Aguero brought the very best out of Anders Lindegaard in the United goal.
City’s 10 men held out until just past the half hour mark. Nani drifted infield before playing the ball out onto the left flank into the path of the overlapping Patrice Evra. The cross came in and the City defenders failed to clear their lines.
The ball fell slightly behind Danny Welbeck who managed to spin around and hook a very well executed volley onto the target and out of the keeper’s reach.
Seven minutes later, the United striker was in the thick of it again and clearly was brought down in the box by Aleksandar Kolarov. A weak Rooney penalty was blocked by Pontilimon, but the rebound came right back into the penalty taker’s path and the England striker gratefully headed the ball home.
City Fights Back
If the majority of spectators thought the game was already over and that United might truly avenge that 6–1 league defeat by scoring a hatful, they could not have been more wrong.
City manager Roberto Mancini sacrificed Adam Johnson and David Silva for the defensive skills of Stefan Savic and Pablo Zabaleta in the interests of damage control. But with United seemingly rather too complacent as the second half got underway, City was suddenly back in contention.
Evra committed an infringement a few yards outside the box in a perfect position for Kolarov to let fly with that lethal left foot. He beat Lindegaard to his left just three minutes after the restart.
On 59 minutes came the moment that all the United fans had been waiting for—the appearance of Paul Scholes. Great player he may have been, but it has to be said that he did look a trifle rusty and duly gave the ball away to, of all people, Aguero.
The Argentine cut inside and fired a shot that Lindegaard was unable to hold or parry to safety. Aguero collected the loose ball and made no mistake. City had kept their shape and been patient and now were in with a real chance to achieve what had seemed beyond anyone’s wildest dreams at half-time.
The home side was denied a chance to draw level when an appeal for handball against Phil Jones was turned down. But in fairness, Valencia had earlier been brought down by Kolarov just inside the City box. This would surely have been given as a foul anywhere else on the pitch, but it seemed the referee was reluctant to penalize City any further after Kompany’s red card and United’s first half penalty.
By stoppage time, United were hanging on for dear life against City’s 10 men. Rio Ferdinand, who looks a shadow of the player he was three or four years ago, gave away a free kick in almost the same position as the one from which Kolarov had scored.
This time the Serb shot straight at Lindegaard, but the Dane failed to hold it and for an instant the hearts of all United followers missed a beat. However, the bounce was kind to the defenders, who somehow contrived to scramble the ball to safety.
United Unconvincing
Notwithstanding the victory, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team was less than convincing. They desperately need a midfield enforcer in the mould of Roy Keane, while both Ferdinand and Jones again made far too many mistakes.
Lindegaard appeared to be increasingly nervous and error prone as the game neared its conclusion, and one wonders if Ferguson’s next phone call will be to try and persuade Edwin van der Sar out of retirement.
‘'We got careless and made City better than they were. They went defensive in the second half and waited for us to make mistakes—and we made them,” Ferguson was reported as saying on ESPN Soccernet.com.
City certainly looked the goods before the controversial sending off, but we will never know what might have been had they completed the game with a full complement of players. One thing is that they are going to miss Yaya Toure greatly. He has been ever present this season and very much the foundation stone of Mancini’s team.
At least now they have been eliminated from the FA Cup and Champions League, City can concentrate on winning that league title that has eluded them for all of 44 years.
“Now I think we can win the league because of the character we showed. United is a top squad in England. At Old Trafford, with 10 men for 40 minutes, they lost 6–1,” said Mancini. “Today we played for 80 minutes with 10 players, scored two goals and didn’t concede any chances.”
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