Scholes' late goal sinks City
Source: Agencies |
April 18, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MANCHESTER United veteran Paul Scholes headed in a stoppage-time goal yesterday to clinch a 1-0 victory over Manchester City and keep the team's hopes of winning an unprecedented fourth straight English Premier League title alive.
A day after being handed a season-long deal, the 35-year-old Scholes headed in Patrice Evra's cross with 12 seconds left of a drab 142nd Manchester derby.
Alex Ferguson's side is now only a point behind Chelsea before the league leader was at Tottenham Hotspur in the late match. The loss weakens City's grip on the fourth Champions League place. Tottenham is only a point behind Roberto Mancini's team.
As United manager Ferguson had said amid the pre-match hype, this turned out to be a disappointing game. It lacked the explosiveness of their League Cup semifinal in January and, given their respective league positions, more urgency was expected from the fierce rivals.
The form going into the match had pointed to a City victory, which would have helped the league's big-spenders finally qualify for the Champions League and convince more top players to join them.
While United had failed to win its past two matches - City had won its past two, scoring 11 goals in the process.
Wayne Rooney was back leading the United attack after missing two league matches due to an ankle injury, but he still looked to be struggling for fitness.
The England forward should have scored his 35th goal of the season in the 41st minute. After latching onto Antonio Valencia's header, Rooney took the ball past City defender Kolo Toure only to miss the target with his shot.
City's play lacked fluency and urgency. Former United striker Carlos Tevez came closest in the first half with a free kick that was held by goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar as it curled toward the top corner.
In Italy, Inter Milan regained the lead in Serie A when goals by Maicon and Samuel Eto'o earned a 2-0 home win over 10-man Juventus on Friday.
Champion Inter has 70 points with four games to go, two points more than AS Roma which needs to win today's derby against Lazio to return to the top.
Sixth-placed Juventus had Momo Sissoko sent off in the 37th minute.
A day after being handed a season-long deal, the 35-year-old Scholes headed in Patrice Evra's cross with 12 seconds left of a drab 142nd Manchester derby.
Alex Ferguson's side is now only a point behind Chelsea before the league leader was at Tottenham Hotspur in the late match. The loss weakens City's grip on the fourth Champions League place. Tottenham is only a point behind Roberto Mancini's team.
As United manager Ferguson had said amid the pre-match hype, this turned out to be a disappointing game. It lacked the explosiveness of their League Cup semifinal in January and, given their respective league positions, more urgency was expected from the fierce rivals.
The form going into the match had pointed to a City victory, which would have helped the league's big-spenders finally qualify for the Champions League and convince more top players to join them.
While United had failed to win its past two matches - City had won its past two, scoring 11 goals in the process.
Wayne Rooney was back leading the United attack after missing two league matches due to an ankle injury, but he still looked to be struggling for fitness.
The England forward should have scored his 35th goal of the season in the 41st minute. After latching onto Antonio Valencia's header, Rooney took the ball past City defender Kolo Toure only to miss the target with his shot.
City's play lacked fluency and urgency. Former United striker Carlos Tevez came closest in the first half with a free kick that was held by goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar as it curled toward the top corner.
In Italy, Inter Milan regained the lead in Serie A when goals by Maicon and Samuel Eto'o earned a 2-0 home win over 10-man Juventus on Friday.
Champion Inter has 70 points with four games to go, two points more than AS Roma which needs to win today's derby against Lazio to return to the top.
Sixth-placed Juventus had Momo Sissoko sent off in the 37th minute.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
