United must show bottle after City’s Toure de force
The bragging rights belong to the blue half of town following Yaya Toure’s deserved winner that set off remarkable scenes of celebration in one of the most thunderous atmospheres Wembley has ever experienced.
On the face of it, of course, it has at the very least cost Alex Ferguson’s side their Treble dream and denied goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, in his final season as a professional, a chance to win the FA Cup for the first and only time.
But the aftershock could have even more significance if United, who looked tired as they played 20 minutes with 10 men following a red card for Paul Scholes, go to Newcastle United tomorrow and fail to secure victory.
“We have to think about Newcastle, it will be a very important game for us,” said United captain Nemanja Vidic, also denied a chance to lift the FA Cup for the first time.
“There are still two trophies to win and many games to play. But the Newcastle one is now the most important for us; we have to prepare well and win that game. It will be very important for our season.
“When you play with 10 men you are chasing the game and you give more. At the end we were tired, but we need to recover quickly.”
Arsenal, whose own confidence must be shattered after their failure to win against Liverpool yesterday go to Tottenham on Wednesday and Chelsea (who host Birmingham the same day) will listen to those comments with great interest and hope the psychological damage done to United’s confidence and the huge dent to their ego will see their form tumble in the Premier League too.
The alternative, of course, is that spurred on by the disappointment of derby defeat, Ferguson’s men come out firing at St James’ Park and begin a dramatic bid for a Premier League and Champions League double.
You can never rule it out and already there are fans suggesting that a tradition of City winning trophies only in seasons when United win even bigger ones will be repeated; remember 1968 when City won the title and United were crowned European champions at Wembley days later?
The Champions League final is at the same venue this year, but it’s fair to say Manchester City fans won’t be too concerned.
Their side, after all, are guaranteed a return to the famous stadium on May 14, two weeks before the Champions League arrives in town, and there were encouraging signs that after spending almost a billion pounds on developing the club, owner Sheikh Mansour is finally about to get a return on his money.
City’s victory on Saturday was thoroughly deserved, surviving a strong start from their rivals in the opening 30 minutes to dominate the next hour and see the match out confidently after Scholes had been deservedly sent off for a terrible high challenge on Pablo Zabaleta after 72 minutes.
It could have been different if Joe Hart had not saved superbly from Dimitar Berbatov after he was slipped through by Ji-Sung Park after 15 minutes — and if the Bulgarian had not missed an even better opportunity from close range when Nani’s superb turn and low cross presented with him with an open goal from three yards a few minutes later.
But from that point on City, spurred on by the driving force that is Yaya Toure took control and grasped the opportunity as they have been threatening to do for so long.
It’s hard to believe this was the same City side beaten 3-0 at Liverpool a few days earlier because with David Silva pulling the strings, Vincent Kompany outstanding in defence and Mario Balotelli leading the line in the absence of injured Carlos Tevez, this was an excellent all-round performance.
The winning goal came courtesy of a terribly sloppy pass from Michael Carrick but there was still work to do for Toure as he weaved through the United defence before firing the ball through van der Sar’s legs for a 52nd minute winner.
There was a kerfuffle at the end as Balotelli taunted United fans, to the fury of Rio Ferdinand and Anderson, but that was merely as sideshow — and the real test now is whether City can end a long wait for a trophy (the last came in the League Cup in 1976) by completing victory in the final next month.
“It’s been 35 years since this club won a trophy and it’s a long time so we know we have to win the cup now,” said Toure. “We have to be strong because this tournament is not finished. The next step is the final and we have to win it.
“We want it so much. That’s why the owners spent money and bought big players. The want to change something, they want to win something. And we know that we came to the club to be part of the story — that’s why this match is not the end of the road.’’
Ferguson’s side, ironically, will be sharing similar sentiments this morning and just as City have something to prove on May 14, tomorrow we will get a sense of whether such a bitter blow to United’s previously unchallenged supremacy will have more long-term consequences or not.
Only once both teams have answered those questions will the true meaning of Saturday’s remarkable game become 100% apparent; but it was certainly a landmark that Wembley will remember.
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