Top of the MatchDavid Silva
Manchester City
David Silva
Manchester City
Flop of the MatchManchester United 1-6 Manchester City: Balotelli provides the fireworks as Mancini’s side humiliates 10-man hosts to go five points clear
The noisy neighbors go on the rampage at Old Trafford, scoring six to put Roberto Mancini's side five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
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Within the first minute of the second half things went from bad to worse for the home side as Aguero put a ball through towards goal, with Balotelli getting on the wrong side of Evans, with the Northern Irish international putting the forward’s shirt on the edge of the box, leaving referee Clattenburg with no choice but to send the center half off.
Balotelli then took the resulting free kick, but the Italian couldn’t make the champions pay for their error, as his strike cannoned off the wall. Richards' attempt from the rebound was cleared from danger.
It could have got even worse for Ferguson’s side as Richards raced into the box and went down under a challenge from Anderson, but Clattenburg waved away the appeals of the visiting side, saying that the contact between the two was incidental.
The home side’s only chance during the first few minutes of the half came as a result of a long ball played to Welback, but the young striker couldn’t make anything of the opportunity as no player in red was anywhere near the England striker and ultimately City got the ball clear.
The ball then raced to the other end, were Richards had another opportunity after the fullback was put in on goal by Balotelli, but he couldn’t find a way beyond the home defense to put De Gea under any real pressure.
Being both a goal down and a man down, the home side re-jigged its side with Rooney moving into midfield and Fletcher moving into the right back position, but even though being pushed back by its neighbors it attempted to get forward, but still couldn’t find a way past Hart in the visiting goal.
Then just before the hour mark, the blue half of Manchester was given further joy to celebrate as Silva raced into the box before finding the onrushing Milner on the right wing, who then crossed to the unmarked Balotelli. He tapped in at the back post to double the visitors lead.
The Blues could have had a third minutes later as Richards played the ball to Silva, who beat his man before whipping in a cross that Chris Smalling was forced to clear before Balotelli could tap home for his hat-trick.
That put Sir Alex into action as he decided to shake things up by bringing on both Phil Jones and Javier Hernandez for the ineffective pair of Anderson and Nani as the home side looked to find a way back into the Manchester derby.
But instead of getting back into the game, United went further behind as Richards received the ball on the right wing, crossing to the back post for Aguero to knock home as race towards the sea of blue fans in corner to celebrate City’s third of the day.
City continued to put the pressure on its local rivals, as Edin Dzeko, who had replaced Balotelli minutes earlier, had a chance that went just wide of De Gea’s goal.
City kept going forward looking for a fourth goal, with Silva going close, then De Gea having to get down well in order to save from Dzeko as the Bosnian striker went one-on-one with the keeper, after being put through on goal.
With 10 minutes left in the game, the home side finally found a goal to give its fans something to cheer about, as Fletcher played a one-two with Hernandez and the Scotland captain then proceeded to curl the ball round Hart and into the top of the Manchester City goal to reduce the deficit.
Mancini’s side was content to hang on for the reminder of the game, slowing down the play at any opportunity, which brought roars of anger from the home support, as it was desperate to see its side close the gap on its city rivals.
With two minutes left in the game the visitors finally got their fourth of the game as a corner from the left found Joleon Lescott at the back post and he put it into Dzeko, who hit the ball with his knee and into the net.
The humiliation was complete a minute later as Dzeko turned from goalscorer to provider as he put through Silva, who slotted the ball through De Gea legs to give the visitors their fifth goal of a famous derby victory.
Then, deep into injury time it became even worse as Silva found Dzeko, who slotted the ball past De Gea to complete a terrible day for Sir Alex side as it was humbled by its noisy neighbours.
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