Wayne's World

The iconic photo that will stay in the minds of many United fans for years to come

It's a Manchester showdown which I had considered to attend, but declined to do so in the end because I was thinking of saving the money for a bigger Champions League match that is coming. (that is provided United did come out victorious against Marseille..lol) In any case, United faces the strongest City side in the recent decade. Even Dennis Law said its back to the history books when City challenged United for supremacy at the top. City at this point are 3rd while United are at the top and they would definitely be doing itself and the other rivals by clogging Man Utd's charge to the title. Fergie did made a bold decision to leave out Berbatov in favour of a solo Rooney upfront.

From the start, City were determined to make a statement against United. Just inside the 3 minutes mark, David Silva threatened to put City up and he was just inches away from doing so because van der Sar was clearly beaten. The two halves of Manchester continued slogging hard until the 40th minute when Nani did a brilliant run to go on a quick 1 v 1 with the goalie after a superb pass by Giggsy. United entered halftime as the leading side and that was a major psychological boost. However, City sent in Dzeko as a substitute when it was clear that traitor Tevez was doing no good and in the 64th minute, he orchestrated some weird equalizing goal. It was down to luck rather than skill. But nobody would have expected the momentous occassion in the 77th minute featuring Wayne as the main star. Fergie had earlier opted to leave Rooney on the field despite him looking rather like another lacklustre figure on the field and the old Scotsman faith in his striker paid off. In the 77th minute, Nani drifted a ball into the box and Rooney responded by executing a perfect bicycle kick to settle the derby. It was described as the best goal of his career by Rooney and indeed, to execute such an audacious bicycle kick in pressure and during derby is nothing short of a genius footwork. As the old saying goes, form is temporary, class is permanent. For all the trouble that Wayne has gotten himself into earlier in the season, he is slowly winning the Old Trafford faithful back. Even Mancini conceded defeat, because this was a score settled by a moment of brilliance and nothing much could have been done about it.

This win would put United in a prime position to reclaim back the title. City thought they could exploit Smalling and United's dissapointment at a record broken at Wolves but they are severely wrong about that. City at 3rd place is quite far off at 8 points and a game in hand for United. Chelsea were just thrown off orbit with a string of crappy results and they sit dangerously for the first time in many years of losing out in the prospect of qualifying for the Champions League. The amazing thing about this United team is that they played really so crappy and yet by some funny circumstances, their rivals were even more nonsensical than them. Hence, the strange top position that United find themselves occupying since December.