Ultimate United
8 Derbies United Fans will Never Forget 8 Dec 2017 12:02
By Philip Meese, Chief Editor
The 175th Manchester Derby takes place at Old Trafford this weekend, a day which usually has both sides of the city sitting on the edge of their seats. The Theatre of Dreams has seen some memorable matches in this fixture down the years. From last minute goals to red cards for violent conduct, this fixture has seen it all.
Here are some moments that made eight Derbies stick in the memory more than others over the last 25 years.
Cantona’s Debut
The first Manchester Derby of the Premier League era in December 1992 is notable for the fact that Eric Cantona made his first competitive appearance in a Manchester United shirt. Paul Ince had already put the Red Devils a goal up when the French maestro was introduced from the bench at half-time. Mark Hughes hit a stunning second from 25 yards to effectively seal the win.
Niall Quinn later pulled one back for the visitors, but Cantona had begun his United career in the fashion he would become accustomed to; winning. The Frenchman never experienced anything other than victory against Manchester City, and this was the only Derby he played in without scoring.
Kanchelskis Hat Trick
In November 1994, City arrived at Old Trafford in confident mood. Brian Horton’s side were in and around the top six, and had recently put five past Tottenham. United, on the other hand, had been on the receiving end of a 4-0 thrashing in Barcelona the previous week, and had already lost three times in the league, despite being in second place.
United took control of the game, with Cantona opening the scoring midway through the first half. Russian winger Andrei Kanchelskis added a second on the stroke of half time with a deflected shot, and from here the result never looked in doubt. Shortly after the restart, Kanchelskis latched onto a Cantona header which sent him through on goal. The winger’s first shot was stopped by Simon Tracey but Kanchelskis tucked away the rebound. Hughes added a fourth with twenty minutes to go to heap more Derby misery on their neighbours.
With stoppage time approaching, United executed a swift counter-attack which was concluded when Cantona played a square ball to Kanchelskis who found himself one on one with Tracey. As was the case with his second, the on-loan goalkeeper saved the first effort but couldn’t hold it, and the winger completed his hat trick at the second attempt. It was the first Derby hat trick by a United player for 34 years. No player from either side has managed it since.
The Penalty
In February 1996, United and City met in the F.A. Cup for the first time in nine years. The Blues were battling relegation, while the Red Devils were trying to catch Newcastle at the top of the Premier League. It was City, however, who took the early impetus, when Georgiou Kinkladze’s pass put Uwe Rösler clear. The German striker calmly chipped the ball over Peter Schmeichel to give City the lead.
United were not playing particularly well at this point, and were given a gift wrapped opportunity near the end of the first half. The referee indicated that Michael Frontzeck had held down Eric Cantona and awarded United a penalty, which the Frenchman duly scored. It was such a soft decision that it outraged rival fans up and down the country, especially as it seemed to wake United up. The Red Devils won the match 2-1 thanks to a winner by Lee Sharpe in the 78th minute.
The Roy Keane-Alf-Inge Håland Incident
In April 2001, Old Trafford saw its first Manchester Derby in five years, with United going for a third successive title. City were battling relegation from the Premier League, having struggled on their return to the top flight. The game itself ended in a 1-1 draw, with Steve Howey cancelling out a penalty from Teddy Sheringham.
What followed City’s 80th minute equaliser has become one of the most recognisable images of English football. United captain Roy Keane and City midfielder Alf-Inge Håland were involved in a challenge which saw Keane receive a straight red card, as he put in a high challenge on the Norwegian, and then stood over him screaming.
When Keane published his autobiography, it was revealed that this was a vicious act of revenge. The two players did have history from when the Norwegian was at Leeds United. Keane had gone down in the box at Elland Road, and Håland stood over him accusing him of faking injury to get a penalty, but Keane would not play again for the rest of the season. Following the revelations in his book about the incident in the Derby, Keane received a five match ban, added to the three he received for the initial sending off, and a £150,000 fine
The fallout from this incident was that Keane ended Alf-Inge Håland’s career, however, this is incorrect. While nobody is defending the Irishman’s actions, Keane hit Håland with a tackle to his right knee. The Norwegian played the rest of the game, and played for his country a week later. The thing that finished Håland’s career was his failure to recover from surgery to his left knee, which he had been struggling with prior to the Derby, and he retired in 2003.
Neville’s Headbutt
Gary Neville will always divide opinion, be it as a player, manager or pundit. It was, however, something of a surprise when he was sent off in an F.A. Cup tie at Old Trafford in 2004 for nutting Steve McManaman. Although he was the sort of player opposition fans loved to hate, this kind of action seemed quite out of character.
United had taken the lead through a Paul Scholes strike, and a few minutes later, Neville went down rather easily in the penalty area, following a challenge from Michael Tarnat. The right back found himself surrounded by City players, incensed at his actions. One of these was McManaman, who had originally been nowhere near the incident, but had sprinted over to get involved. After an exchange of verbals, Neville planted his head into the City midfielders face. Although there was minimal contact, no danger of causing damage, he did this in front of referee Jeff Winter, who showed Neville a yellow card for the dive and a straight red for the headbutt.
Despite being a man down, United comfortably won 4-2, with a double from Ruud van Nistelrooy and a strike from Cristiano Ronaldo. City’s goals from Tarnat and Robbie Fowler were little more than consolation.
97th Minute Winner
The Manchester Derby that took place in September 2009 was one of the most eagerly awaited in living memory at the time, and the game itself did not disappoint. It had been just over a year since Sheikh Mansoor had taken charge at Eastlands, effectively giving City unlimited spending potential, before Financial Fair Play was a consideration. In addition to the many millions spent since his arrival, the Blues had convinced Carlos Tevez to leave Old Trafford to join their revolution, once his loan spell had come to an end.
United opened the scoring through Wayne Rooney with the game just two minutes old. City soon recovered from that early shock to equalise after quarter of an hour, when Tevez harried Ben Foster into spilling the ball, which he laid off to Gareth Barry, who calmly passed it into an empty net. The second half saw two headed goals from Darren Fletcher sandwiching a 25 yard screamer from Craig Bellamy. With full time approaching, United seemed to be home and dry with a 3-2 win.
In the 90th minute, Rio Ferdinand’s lapse in concentration gave the ball back to City, and Bellamy charged towards goal, and squeezed in a second equaliser. It looked like the Blues had carved out a point, and it took over a minute for the game to restart following Bellamy’s celebrations in front of the City fans. With five minutes of injury time already played, United surged forward, throwing everything at their neighbours. With virtually the last kick of the game, Ryan Giggs played in Michael Owen, who had found himself in acres of space and dinked it past Shay Given. The red half of Manchester were ecstatic. The blue half, including their manager Mark Hughes, were outraged because apparently, it was only United who had seven minutes of injury time to score a winner. Maybe the idea never occurred to City.
Rooney’s Overhead Kick
A match that no fan of any Premier League club will ever forget, simply because of the quality of the goal which proved the winner. Wayne Rooney had endured a torrid season, both personally and professionally. Having returned after the 2010 World Cup, he had been unable to repeat his devastating form of the previous season, where he had scored a personal best 34 goals. An injury sustained against Bayern Munich had curtailed his hot form, and having been unfit throughout the tournament in South Africa, had been struggling to get it back. It had taken him until New Year’s Day to register his first goal of the season from open play. This was after the ridiculous saga that saw him hand in a transfer request, and within a week sign a new five year contract.
Mansoor’s City dream team was now starting to take shape, and after an inconsistent start to the season, they were starting to put together a good run of form. In February 2011, they headed to Old Trafford in confident mood. The two teams were superbly matched, but it was United who went ahead in the first half, when Nani latched onto a through ball and coolly dispatched it past Joe Hart. To their credit, City didn’t let their heads drop, and forced an equaliser midway through the second half, when Edin Džeko deflected David Silva’s mis-hit shot past Edwin van der Sar.
All bets were now off as the two sides went toe-to-toe, and there was a sense that it was going to take something special to win this Derby. The moment, when it arrived, was worthy of winning any game, on any occasion. With United attacking the old scoreboard end, Nani’s cross took a deflection and headed towards Rooney, who performed an overhead scissor kick. The ball actually went off his shin, but sailed perfectly past Hart into the top corner, causing Old Trafford to erupt. Alex Ferguson later claimed it to be the best goal he had seen at Old Trafford.
United hit City for Four
The 6-1 defeat inflicted by the noisy neighbours a few years previously still hurts most United fans to this, and probably always will. There was, however, a measure of revenge when City visited Old Trafford in April 2015. The Red Devils were on a good run of form, having beaten Liverpool at Anfield a few weeks earlier, but most pundits fancied City as favourites going into this game. It looked like it was going to be a long day when Agüero opened the scoring after eight minutes.
Undeterred by that early setback, United went on the attack, and got their reward five minutes later with an unorthodox goal. Herrera played in a cross which bounced under Ashley Young, hitting him on the backside, but the winger acted quickly and scooped it past Hart to level the scores, falling over in the process. Shortly before the half hour mark, the goalscorer turned creator. Young’s cross deceived the City backline to find Marouane Fellaini, whose header crashed into the net. Before the end of the half, Vincent Kompany was rather fortunate to receive only a yellow after a hard challenge on Blind.
Those who were expecting a City backlash in the second half would be disappointed, as United sensed there were more goals in this game. Rooney went close with a free kick that Hart had to be very alert to keep out. The United captain then turned creator, sliding Anfield hero Juan Mata in on goal. In spite of the act that he was marginally offside, Mata advanced on Hart and coolly slotted it under him to make it 3-1. With just over 15 minutes remaining, Young capped a man of the match performance by floating a free kick onto the head of Chris Smalling, who gratefully accepted the present to make it four. Agüero pulled one back for City, but his lack of celebration told the story. This was United’s day.
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