City Captain Vincent Kompany after scoring the day's only goal. (Getty Images)
A few weeks back Vincent Kompany let his club down at home against Manchester United. On that day, he received a red card early in a derby match in the FA Cup against City's heated rivals, ultimately leading to the demise of the dream of repeating their FA Cup success. Today, the City captain erased that memory, notching a goal that will most likely be long remembered as one of the most important in history of his club.
Today was the "unmissable" game, as Sky Sports dubbed it. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson called it "The derby to end all derbies." Manchester City hosted Manchester United. The winner would not quite claim the Premier League title, but would have an advantage nearly impossible to be overcome.
In reality, only one team really showed up. Manchester City came out confident on their home ground, knowing they needed three points. A draw would have suited United just fine, and they definitely came out not trying to win, but to avoid losing. That can spell disaster against a club that's as good as City.
The best chance that United had pretty much all day came in just the second minute. They won a corner, and sent the ball in. After a bit of ping pong in front of the City goal, the ball fell to Michael Carrick. He volleyed the ball toward the goal, but his shot was blocked. United screamed for handball, but it fell on deaf ears.
After that, Manchester City took control of the first half, and really took control of the match. United slid back into an almost park the bus mentality, knowing all they really needed to do was keep City out of the back of the net. In the end, they never really even looked threatening on the counter attack. The men in sky blue had some issues though, United is never easy to break down. Sergio Aguero had some half looks, and Carlos Tevez worked hard, but never really got a look.
In end, City would land the only blow of the day right before halftime. In the first of two minutes of stoppage, City set up for a corner that was taken by David Silva. As the kick came in Kompany shook his marker, Chris Smalling, and rose for a free header, putting it easily by David De Gea to make it 1-0 to City at halftime.
United tried to come out differently in the second half, but it just wasn't to be. Honestly the most interesting thing that happened in the last 45 minutes was the 4th official having to break up a sparring match between Ferguson and Roberto Mancini.
Late in the match Samir Nasri had a chance to ice it, looking at a shooting opportunity right in front of goal. Instead of shooting to either post for an easy score, he got cute and tried to walk it in. The United defense regrouped and stuffed him without even a shot. In the end though, it didn't matter. United didn't register a single shot on goal for the entire game, as City easily held onto the 1-0 win.
The result puts the two sides level on points, but City have a superior goal difference. If they win their last two (at Newcastle and vs QPR) United doesn't really have much of a chance. They have Swansea at home and finish on the road to Sunderland. It's possible that United could put up a big number against Swansea, but likely not at Sunderland.
United will need City to slip up. If they don't, the red half of Manchester might be facing a season void of trophies.
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