Scintillating City announce start of new Blue era

ALEX FERGUSON has a keen sense of football history and, after the extraordinary events at Old Trafford yesterday, was quick and succinct in describing the worst defeat in his quarter-century as Manchester United manager, an occasion which seemed to herald a momentous day in the modern game.

“I’m shattered, I can’t believe it,” said Ferguson, clearly still shell-shocked after his team’s horrendous defeat. “It was an incredible disappointment.”

Those words neatly summed up the preceding 90-plus minutes in which Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko had each scored twice, David Silva and Sergio Aguero joining them on the scoresheet as Darren Fletcher claimed a meaningless consolation for the Reds.

There was also the extenuating factor of United playing all but the first few seconds of the second half with 10 men after Jonny Evans was sent off for hauling down Balotelli on the edge of the United penalty area.

But it was hard to avoid the feeling that this was an epoch-defining moment, one in which the balance of power in Manchester — and possibly European football — had shifted from the red half of the city to the blue.

Ferguson has been around long enough, seen off enough pretenders, to know that this may well have been the day in which his dynasty, United and their 19 league titles, will finally have to let in the “noisy neighbours” from across town and concede that they will no longer have things entirely their own way.

There was certainly the expected note of defiance in Ferguson’s post-match comments, the promise that his team would respond, but with City’s owners having already invested around £1 billion in their project and with the promise of more to come, whatever response he and his team can muster may well not be enough.

“We absolutely dominated the game and played some brilliant football for 10 minutes,” added Ferguson. “It was hard to believe we were 1-0 down but that’s retrievable. The sending off was the killer blow. After that we kept attacking. It’s all right playing the history books but common sense has to come into it. When we went to 3-1, 4-1 we should have settled for that.

“It’s the manner of the defeat,” added Ferguson. “And the goal difference. Over the years we have always enjoyed a better goal difference than our rivals but today we are 10 goals short.

“You have to recover. The history of Manchester United is ‘another day’ and we will recover. That kind of defeat will make an impact on the players. There’s a lot of embarrassment in that dressing room and quite rightly so.”

There had been no true indication of the drama to come as, inevitably given his weekend problems with fireworks, Balotelli gave City a 21st-minute lead.

The goal came following a mistake from Evans, who gave the ball away needlessly and allowed City to launch a devastating counter-attack. It culminated with Silva slipping a pass to James Milner, who pulled the ball back for Balotelli to score with a first-time, right-foot shot.

Reduced to 10 men, and with Wayne Rooney playing in central midfield following Evans’ 46th-minute dismissal, United held on until the hour when City wrapped up the points.

Milner and Silva exchanged passes, the latter back-heeling to the former who reached the by-line before drilling the ball across goal to the far post where Balotelli converted.

Silva had a shot deflected wide and almost found Balotelli for a hat-trick goal before City added a third on 68 minutes through Aguero. Milner’s pass freed Micah Richards down the right and he pulled back the perfect cross into the six-yard area where Aguero scored from close range.

It was becoming a question of how many they could score. Substitute Dzeko shot just wide, Silva volleyed over from six yards and Dzeko, again, was played through on goal only to be denied by David de Gea.

Finally, Fletcher claimed United’s consolation, 10 minutes from time, but United would not be spared complete humiliation and, in the 90th minute, Gareth Barry flicked on a corner to the far post where Joleon Lescott turned the ball back into play and into the net via Dzeko’s knee.

A minute later, Silva was played clear by Dzeko and sprinted half the length of the field before coolly placing the ball past de Gea.

In injury-time Dzeko was again on the mark, another counter-attack sprung by Silva which allowed the forward to beat de Gea yet again.