Saturday, May 14, 2011

Manchester City


Manchester City

As Saturday afternoon beckoned, both Manchester Unitedand Manchester City were on the verge of glory as thePremier League and the FA Cup came to a head.

United needed just a point at Blackburn Rovers to seal their 19th league title at lunchtime, whilst City went up against Stoke shortly after the United game ended at Wembley Stadium.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side looked like making hard work of it at Ewood Park when they fell behind to Brett Emerton's strike in the first half. United were frustrated by strong performances from Chris Samba and Phil Jones, before controversy struck as Javier Hernandez went over Paul Robinson.

Referee Phil Dowd consulted his assistant before awarding a penalty to the visitors, which Wayne Rooney swept home. United held on to claim their 19th title and Sir Alex Ferguson was proud of his side.

"It was a fantastic performance by the lads and the supporters and for everybody connected with the club it's a great day today," he told Sky Sports."The players worked their socks off to get the result we needed. It wasn't an easy game, we went 1-0 down having given them a bad goal but we kept on and we don't give in.
"It was a big challenge. In the 80s, it was Liverpool's time. But when I came down, I never thought we could achieve what we've achieved, but getting that first one opened the doors.
"It looked like it was not going to be our day, we've always had it difficult here."
Just 25 minutes after United celebrated, Manchester City kicked-off at Wembley looking for their first trophy in 35 years.

Stoke City proved to be resilient opposition but a Yaya Toure strike a little more than 15 minutes from extra-time put the seal on the FA Cup for the Blues as another trophy began its journey towards Manchester.

Manager Mancini revelled in City's success and praised both his players and the fans, tellingITV Sports: "They deserve this celebration after many years. I can say congratulations to my players because this afternoon they played a fantastic game.

"We deserved to score in the first half but were perhaps unlucky. We always had the game under control but in football everything can change in one moment."

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