MANCHESTER — Alex Ferguson said Manchester United’s 3-2 win at Manchester City was one of the most dramatic of his career after his side moved six points clear in the Premier League on Sunday.
Report by AFP/Fifa.com
Robin van Persie struck in the second minute of injury time to give United a victory of potentially huge importance, after Wayne Rooney’s first-half brace for the visitors had been cancelled out by Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta.
However, van Persie’s deflected free-kick, which narrowly eluded Joe Hart to nestle in the bottom-left corner, made sure Ferguson’s men will go into the Christmas period with an imposing advantage over the defending champions.
“I have not known many more dramatic days than that,” Ferguson said.
“Today was a special one as City had not lost for two years in the Premier League at home. You could not take your eyes off it.”
“I thought we played very well. We had a goal that was perfectly onside ruled out and they go up the pitch and score. “That is the kind of game football is and it can kill you and kick you in the teeth. They deserved to come back when it was 2-2, but up to that point, I thought we were far better than them.”
Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini reserved pointed criticism for Samir Nasri and Mario Balotelli after the defeat.Van Persie’s free-kick took a telling deflection off Nasri, who appeared to shy away as the ball arrowed towards him, while Balotelli stormed straight down the tunnel after being substituted in the 52nd minute.
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Carlos Tevez, Balotelli’s replacement, stepped out of the defensive wall as van Persie prepared to strike his decisive set-piece. “I don’t know why (Tevez left the wall), but we made a mistake there.”
Tevez’s departure from the wall left City with only three players to face van Persie’s shot, but Mancini said Nasri’s behaviour was more baffling.
“In the last free-kick, we put only three players there,” he said. “Were there three? We had two and a half. We didn’t cover very well.”
Mancini added, “I love Mario like a guy, and as a player, but I think it’s important for him to start to think about his job if he wants to play well.
“When you have a player with Mario’s quality, you can’t believe that he throws his quality out of the window. “I’ve seen players in my life with fantastic quality who ended up with nothing and I don’t want Mario to finish like these players, because it will be bad for him.”
