Early in the match Berbatov had two great chances to put the Red Devils on top, however both were squandered. The first came from a perfect ball from Park through to Berbatov who found himself one on one with the keeper about eight yards out, but Joe Hart proved equal to the task by getting off his line early and making the save. The second came just seconds after – on a throw in Nani slides the ball across the six yard box and an onrushing Berbatov finds some way to miss from about 3 yards out. That certainly should have been the opening goal, but Dimi opted for a sliding finish versus a strong one-time strike.

The wheels came off for United in the 52nd minute. A poorly conceived back pass from Ferdinand to Van der Sar sees the keeper rush his clearance, which only makes it just past the 18 yard box, deflects off of a David Silva back to Carrick who proceeds to gift a soft pass to Yaya Toure who exploded into the box on a slight diagonal run and put the dagger into the heart of all Red Devil fans by sliding the ball through Van der Sar’s legs and into the back of the net. Great run, great goal. Advantage City.

From this point on, Manchester City always looked like they would go on to win with only one other bright spot coming in the 66th minute. United’s only real second-half opportunity came from a free kick from Nani. Joe Hart made a great save and pushed the shot off of the cross bar, On replay you could see the ball deflected off of Mario Balotelli allowing the save.

United’s hopes of finding an equalizer would suffer a huge blow in the 72nd minute. Paul Scholes put in a horribly timed, studs up, tackle on Pablo Zabaleta and earned himself a straight red card. Game, set, match.

United play again this Tuesday and we’ll see how/if they manage to bounce back from this defeat.

You can see the full highlights below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy0NxOxNdAs

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It was Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlitos Tevez who did the damage, netting a goal each before half-time.
But it was Tevez who dominated the pre-match talk, having made several statements in the previous weeks about his future at Old Trafford. Tevez has reiterated the lack of respect toward him at United, stating that he is too good a player to be sitting on the bench.

But Tevez did start against City and played great, netting Uniteds second goal just before halftime and playing the entire match.

Ronaldo on the other hand dominated the post-match talk, not for his spectacular trademark free-kick which opened the score-line but rather for his childish antics when he was substituted off in the 60th minute.

Sir Alex later played down Ronaldo’s actions by saying “It is great that he wanted to play on. It is fabulous. But I have to look at the big picture. He produced an incredible performance against Arsenal on Tuesday. He ran his socks off. Now I have Wednesday and Saturday to look after. There is no problem.”
Although I feel another boot incident coming on if Ronaldo continues to act like a spoiled brat.

So, lets blow past Wigan on Wednesday and celebrate at Old Trafford on Saturday against Arsenal.

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According to Bolt’s agent Ricky Simms, the Worlds fastest man gladly accepted Ronaldo’s one condition.

“It’s definitely going to happen,” said Bolt’s agent Ricky Simms.
“We’ll sort something out when Usain comes to Europe to compete in the summer.”

Ronaldo’s critics have suggested it would be more appropriate for the Ballon d’Or winner to seek help from Michael Phelps for diving lessons. That’s funny!

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I did have an issue with Giggs though, I do believe he is in great shape, but there were a couple of plays where he wanted to be the hero and didn’t make the right decision. For example, in the 16th minute he took a free kick that went right into the wall! I couldn’t remember the last time Giggsy scored a free kick! So I decided to YouTube “Ryan Giggs free kicks” and all I got was PES and FIFA videos.  So why the hell did he take that kick?

Another play I felt he could have done better on was the break he got from Nelson Rivas, he took the shot on goal but had such a tough angle and the way Julio Cesar was playing, he was never gonna score, he should have played the ball square to Berbatov!

And I really don’t think he should have been out there for 90 minutes.

Everyone else played really well, I was pleasantly surprised by both Johnny Evans and John O’Shea! Containing Ibrahimovic and Adriano is no easy task! Park did what he does best, plays within himself. I would like to have seen a little more of Berbatov.

Overall I feel we have a great advantage going into the return leg. If everyone can stay healthy and Vidic can keep from getting suspended, we should have a much stronger team for the decisive match at Old Trafford!

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