HOW TITLE CHASE ENDED IN LAST-GASP CITY GLORY
By SIMON MULLOCK 39 min: Man City 1 QPR 0.
Pablo Zabaleta strikes to settle City nerves after Wayne Rooney scored at Sunderland to return Manchester United to the top of the table. With Bolton winning at Stoke, QPR are going down. ZABALETA: “It’s the forgotten goal. I’m sure City fans will remember it but I recall thinking at half-time that if the game finished 1-0 then I’d be the hero.”
48 min: City 1 QPR 1.
A mistake by Joleon Lescott allows Djibril Cisse to equalise. LESCOTT: “I’ve never watched it back – and I never will. It was horrible to be at fault like that. Even talking about it hurts, even though I know what happened next. NEDUM ONUHOA, QPR’s former City defender: “I said to myself, ‘Celebrate, but not too much’. It was the most nervous I’d ever been.” 55 min. Joey Barton is dismissed for elbowing Carlos Tevez. He kicks Sergio Aguero and tries to headbutt Vincent Kompany before being dragged off (right). BARTON: “It wasn’t the best from me. I deserved to be sent off, but I thought Tevez should have also been sent off for elbowing me. The pressure exploded and I was intent on trying to even it up by getting a City player sent off.
66 min: City 1 QPR 2.
Sub Armand Traore crosses for Jamie Mackie to nod the visitors in front. KOMPANY: For a while we lost complete control of the game. Gaps were appearing that hadn’t appeared before. It looked like we had thrown it away.” BARTON: “I was watching the game on a monitor in the tunnel. I could hear both benches and panic had set in with City.” MICAH RICHARDS: “I was next to Mario Balotelli on the bench and he told me not to worry because we would still win.” ONUHOA: “To say Roberto
Mancini had lost the plot is an understatement.” 90 min+2: City 2 QPR 2. Sub Edin Dzeko heads home David Silva’s free-kick. The title is still heading to Old Trafford. DZEKO: “When I scored I think everyone woke up. Fans came back into the stadium and we believed again, even if there was only two or three minutes left.” 90 min+4: City 3 QPR 2 Aguero exchanges passes with Balotelli to score and make City champions. With Bolton losing at Stoke, Rangers are safe. AGUERO: “I told Mario, ‘I’m going to drop deep to find the ball and the first thing I’ll do is try a one-two’.” BALOTELLI: “I tried to control the ball but I had contact from a defender and the ball was far from my foot. I saw Sergio running one way and Vinny the other, so I slid to move the ball to Sergio – and he did everything if I am honest.” AGUERO: “There was a split second when many things ran through my head. I thought about shooting, or wondered if we were going to get a penalty. Finally I knew the moment had arrived to shoot. When I scored the only thing I remember was taking my shirt off and then everyone started to hug and kiss me and tell me they loved me. A City fan later told me that 93:20 was the greatest moment of his life. I just said, ‘Wow’. KOMPANY: “I can honestly say I was the happiest man on earth at that moment. It was on a par with all the powerful experiences you can have, like the birth of your children and getting married. I don’t feel bad saying that.” ROBERTO MANCINI: “This will never be forgotten. I always thought we would win because we deserved that title.”