Old Trafford's best games: Man City (2009)

United 4 Manchester City 3
Date: 20 September 2009
Competition: Premier League

Pre-match context: Following the post-takeover spending of City, the Manchester derby took on a new look ahead of the 2009/10 campaign as United, champions for three straight seasons, found a new rival for silverware.

Rivalry: For decades, despite United’s dominance of English football, the derby had remained a singular entity, avowing the old cliché that form counted for nothing. Every meeting was fiercely contested, even if the two sides tended to have contrasting ambitions come each season’s end. The takeover of City proved to be a game-changer, however, with the Blues’ ambitious recruitment drive widely expected to fuel their emergence as a new power in English football.

Atmosphere: There was an unmistakeable edge in the air as Mark Hughes’s side arrived at Old Trafford, with the two sides level on points going into the early-season encounter. Rather than dreading an upset, the home support was acclimatising to the new sensation of regarding the visitors as a sustained threat for honours – embodied best by Carlos Tevez, whose previous start in M16 had yielded United’s clinching second goal in the previous season’s corresponding fixture.

Just four months later, the Argentinian forward was the poster boy for City’s new era, providing an absorbing subplot on what would prove a captivating afternoon.

United’s performance: Almost immediately, the champions set about making a statement, forging ahead in just the second minute when Wayne Rooney calmly slid home from close range. Rather than lie down, however, City fought back – a recurring theme of the afternoon. Gareth Barry pounced to level after a Ben Foster slip, then Craig Bellamy cancelled out a Darren Fletcher header not once, but twice. The latter came in the final minute after another defensive blunder and also followed a spate of missed opportunities for the Reds. Time remained, however, for an all-time classic to swing back United’s way.

Plot twist: In added time at the end of added time, Rooney’s mighty punt forward was cleared only as far as Ryan Giggs who, despite the pressure of the situation, calmly assessed his options before sliding in a magnificent pass to the unmarked Michael Owen, who required just two predatory touches to control and stab in a last-gasp winner at the Stretford End.

As the home support fell into raptures, the wild scenes of celebration were echoed by Sir Alex Ferguson and his bench, including unused substitute Gary Neville, who gleefully embarked on the most pointed and pointless of warm-ups down the touchline in front of the shattered away end.

Significance: City’s time would come, but this was a reminder that Ferguson’s United were still the benchmark. The Scot, enthralled but irritated, chose to underline his side’s dominance post-match, saying: “We could have won by six or seven. Would we have rather won 6-0 or had the greatest-ever derby? I’d rather have won 6-0!” For those inside Old Trafford or watching around the world, the dramatic denouement was worth the hefty price.