Probably the most harrowing of Man United fixtures this season, for United fans at least, was the thrashing the Red Devils received at home from arch rivals Manchester City. The final scoreline – Man United 1-6 Man City – was described by Sir Alex Ferguson, a veteran of 25 years managing Manchester United football club, as the most humiliating match in his entire Man United career.
The result was as shocking as any previously seen in the Barclays Premier League, especially as United were unbeaten in the first seven games and had started the league in scintillating form. Manchester City were top of the league at the time, it must be said, but even so, the fact that United has won their previous nineteen games at home in the league did not bode well for the current league leaders. There were two blue thorns in flesh of the Man United players for the entire period they were on the pitch – the magical David Silva and the enigmatic Mario Balotelli.
Silva had been in sensational for all season, serving up assists to his teammates when not rifling home himself, in addition to dominating midfield play and keeping the Man City machine ticking along. At Old Trafford the little Spaniard produced another virtuoso performance, continuously escaping the attention of a bewildered Darren Fletcher and prompting and probing the United defense for weaknesses. His performance was capped when he scored late on in the second half of the match. Perhap the only person to outshine Silva on the night was the hot tempered young Italian Mario Balotelli. The powerful forward simply had too much for error prone Jonny Evans on the night. After the Italian lost Evans to score the first goal, he succeeded in drawing a foul from flailing young defender in the second half when bearing down on goal. Evans was sent off while United had to play a full forty five minutes with only ten men. In the end, Man City put Man United to the sword on a historical day in Manchester. The noisy neighbors were as noisy as ever at the end of that particular match.