Showing posts with label Old Trafford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old Trafford. Show all posts
Wayne Rooney's stunning overhead kick sealed a 2-1 derby victory for Premier League leaders Manchester United over Manchester City at Old Trafford.
Nani opened the scoring in the run-up to the end of an even first half, in which City showed more attacking intent than any point during the drab goalless reverse fixture at Eastlands back in November.
David Silva drew the visitors level on 65 minutes with a fortunate deflected goal he knew little about, but it was no less than City deserved.
However, with 12 minutes of the match remaining Rooney produced a magical winner to send United eight points above their title-chasing local rivals.
Rooney's recent progress back towards his blistering form of a year ago has been slow and uneven since the turn of the year, but this acrobatic moment of pure genius cannot help but raise hopes that he will rediscover his glorious best sooner rather than later.
Both sides were unable to field entirely first-choice line-ups. Chris Smalling made his first appearance in a Manchester derby in defence with Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans both unavailable, while Alex Ferguson again elected to drop league top scorer Dimitar Berbatov to the bench for a big game.
Roberto Mancini also named his own big-money striker, Edin Dzeko, as a substitute and moved full-back Aleksandar Kolarov up the pitch to bolster a midfield missing the injured Nigel de Jong.
Although United began in confident fashion, City had plenty of moments, mainly orchestrated by Silva. The diminutive Spaniard should have had City ahead after four minutes when Carlos Tevez slipped a cute through ball into his path inside the box, but he fired wide of the far post from an angle.
United's own instrumental Iberian, Nani, looked determined to grab his first derby goal, fizzing strikes over the bar and firing right at keeper Joe Hart from range throughout the half.
Ryan Giggs, playing in his 34th derby for United, was equally influential for the home side, bending in an inviting cross which Darren Fletcher could only head down at Hart's feet.
The veteran winger's precision came to the fore for the opening goal which allowed Nani to cap off a classic Route One goal on 41 minutes. Edwin van der Sar's long boot up the pitch was flicked on by Rooney, who had been for the most part shackled by Vincent Kompany. The header fell to Giggs, who clipped the ball through for Nani to meet and finish his surge into the box with a clinical low shot past Hart.
Mancini had stated before the match that he was aiming to win, and he made positive switches after the break, firstly introducing Shaun Wright-Phillips for Kolarov before Dzeko made his arrival on the hour-mark.
As Kompany continued to frustrate Rooney at one end, including one exceptional sliding block after Fletcher had played an inviting ball into the box for the England man to hit on the turn, Dzeko had a hand in the equaliser at the other.
Technically it could go down as an assist for Silva's goal, although it was nothing of the sort. The Bosnia striker miscued his shot from Wright-Phillips's low cross after a good move down the left initiated by Tevez, and the effort rebounded off Silva and into the net before anyone, including Van der Sar, knew what had happened.
The goal made the final quart of the game an open, end-to-end encounter, although clear chances were at a premium. That was until the 78th minute, when Nani's speculative cross from the right was met by Rooney leaping into the air and firing his crisply struck bicycle kick right into the top corner. Any strike that beats this one to be goal of the season will be very special indeed.
From then on, City never looked like pulling themselves back on terms for a second time, and United did what they have done countless times before at Old Trafford by frustrating their increasingly frantic opponents and securing a victory which takes them one step closer to the title.
Manchester United destroyed Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford with a 7-1 victory that sends them to the top of the Premier League table.
Wayne Rooney made his first league start for the club in two months, but it was Dimitar Berbatov who answered his own critics emphatically by scoring five goals to end his 10-match scoring drought.
Berbatov claimed a brace in the first half - with Park Ji-sung adding another before the break - before the Bulgarian netted three more in the second half, with Nani also getting on the scoresheet.
The drubbing sends United back above Arsenal - who were briefly top following their earlier win at Aston Villa - and also Chelsea, who can return to the summit when they travel to Newcastle on Sunday.
United were ahead inside two minutes when Blackburn failed to clear their lines and Nani's cross was steered skilfully past Paul Robinson by Berbatov. It was the Bulgarian's first goal in 11 matches, since his hat-trick against Liverpool back in September.
Rooney and Berbatov continuously linked up well as United thoroughly dominated proceedings, and the inevitable second came midway through the half.
Park surged forward before finding Rooney on the edge of the D, and the England striker played a perfectly-weighted return pass into the Korean's path for him to lift a delightful finish over Robinson.
Rovers boss Sam Allardyce replaced the poor Herold Goulon with David Hoillett soon after, but the match was over as a contest when Berbatov gratefully received Pascal Chimbonda's woefully underhit back pass to fire in his second and United's third in the 27th minute.
Berbatov could have claimed his hat-trick just before the break when his mesmeric dribble into the area was halted by Michel Salgado's block, but referee Mark Clattenburg denied the appeals and the Spanish defender, already on a yellow card, stayed on the pitch.
As things panned out after the break, Salgado may wish he had been given his marching orders.
Just as he scored early in the first half, Berbatov scored again two minutes after the restart when he played a delightful ball out to Nani with the outside of his boot and continued his run. Nani teed Berbatov up with a square pass that he fired into the top corner to claim his hat-trick.
Nani then claimed one of his own right from the kick-off when he cut inside and curled a great finish into the far top corner.
The Portuguese was in electric form on the right wing, and he almost laid a chance on a plate for Rooney after another searing run, but Robinson was off his line to block the pass along the edge of the six-yard box.
Berbatov joined Alan Shearer, Jermain Defoe and former United striker Andy Cole in the club of men to score five goals in a single Premier League match when, after lashing the loose ball into the net after a cross rebounded off Park, he had an attempted pass blocked by Ryan Nelsen which bounced back to him, and he finished from a tight angle with aplomb.
Christopher Samba scored a consolation goal for Rovers with a header from Josh Morris's cross after hitting the bar seconds earlier, before Berbatov was denied becoming the first player to grab a six goals in a Premier League match when Robinson saved his header late on.
That was one of only two shots on target that United did not convert in an awesome display that extended their unbeaten season in fearsome fashion.
Two red cards allowed Manchester United to claim a 2-0 Premier League win against Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford without playing well.
United might have been punished for a lacklustre performance, but the justified dismissals of Antolin Alcaraz and Hugo Rodallega inside four second-half minutes effectively settled the game.
Patrice Evra had headed United in front on 45 minutes, and Javier Hernandez added a second with a superb diving header late on.
Wayne Rooney made a substitute appearance on his return from injury, but could not find the net.
Defeats to Chelsea and Arsenal made it a perfect afternoon for Sir Alex Ferguson's men, who are now level on points with the Blues atop the Premier League.
United extended their unbeaten run at the start of the season to 14 games, but they lack the flair and swagger of Arsenal's 2003/04 'Invincibles', or of countless other Ferguson sides.
That they are level at the top of the table is down to the deterioration of their title rivals and their obdurate never-say-die attitude, which is certainly admirable but hardly entertaining.
Federico Macheda got the nod to play up front supported by Gabriel Obertan, with Rooney and Hernandez on the bench, and Dimitar Berbatov left out of the squad altogether.
The pair conjured nothing to worry United's bigger guns. Macheda, normally so vital and energetic when used as a substitute, was a passenger for much of the game.
Obertan, meanwhile, shone fleetingly, most notably when his quick feet left Alcaraz for dead and the Wigan captain earned a yellow card for a late trip.
Most of United's best work came through Park Ji-Sung and Nani, who showed his usual hunger for the ball. The Portuguese winger went close on 12 minutes with a long-range shot that Ali Al-Habsi tipped behind.
But Wigan created the better chances. A Nemanja Vidic slip presented first Rodallega then Jordi Gomez with a chance, but the Spanish winger volleyed over from 10 yards.
On 37 minutes Charles N'Zogbia embarked on a bustling run that left no fewer than four opponents in his wake, but Edwin van der Sar charged out of his goal to block the Frenchman's shot.
And a minute later, Rodallega found the time and space to hit a powerful overhead kick, but the shot was wayward.
Evra ensured United ended a difficult first half in the best possible way in the 45th minute. Al-Habsi hesitated over Park's cross from the right, and Evra met it at the far post with a stooping header that bounced low into the opposite corner - just his second Premier League goal in nearly 150 appearances.
Ten minutes into the second half, Rooney came on for his first appearance in over a month, following a week of intensive fitness training in Oregon.
He received polite applause from the Old Trafford crowd, but hardly an ovation befitting a returning hero. Which, based on this season's performances and his contract farrago, he isn't.
The match was effectively settled by a flurry of cards around the hour mark. On 59 minutes Alcaraz saw red for a second late challenge, this time on Darren Fletcher, that left Martin Atkinson with no alternative.
Then Rodallega was sent off for a needless tackle on Rafael. Although the Colombian took the ball, he went in two-footed with his studs showing - a surefire recipe for dismissal in the modern game.
Rooney went close to a goalscoring return on 71 minutes, heading goalwards from a Rafael cross, only for Al-Habsi to deny him.
The England striker should have scored late on, but failed to get any purchase on his shot after Nani's cross from the right, and he passed it tamely back to Al-Habsi.
By that point, he had been upstaged by Hernandez, who converted a superb low, diving header from a Rafael cross on 77 minutes to put the result beyond doubt.
