Man City 3 – 2 QPR – MY THOUGHTS
15 May
13th May 2012. A day when dreams turned into reality. A day when 44 years of heartbreak, hurt and living in the shadows ended. A day when typical City ceased to exist. A day which will be remembered forever. A day when Manchester City became Premier League Champions.
95 minutes of unrelenting emotion. 95 minutes of hope, ecstasy, despair, utter deflation, humiliation, hope again and then chaos. 93 minutes of nerve-wracking tension followed by two minutes of pure, unbridled joy. 95 minutes that took you to the edge. 95 minutes that tested you in every way imaginable. 95 minutes that typified Manchester City.
There are no superlatives to describe what happened on Sunday afternoon. It was, if possible, even more remarkable than Wembley in 1999 against Gillingham. For Horlock and Dickov, read Dzeko and Aguero. For Joe Royle, read Roberto Mancini. For the team that scraped through and were promoted from Division Two, read the team that scraped through and became Champions of the Premier League. For the fans, read … the fans.
It was a quite incredible, breathtaking afternoon, one to which no report can do justice. At 1-0 up, there was an air of cautious expectancy. City, with the best home record in the league, were leading against the side with the worst away record. But then Djibril Cissé scored and faces dropped. And then Jamie Mackie scored.
It is impossible to describe the feelings at that point. One paper suggested it was ‘numb disbelief’ and that’s about as close as you can get. From the moment QPR took the lead until Dzeko’s equaliser, there was deathly silence. We had the title in our grasp and then threw it away in the most feeble manner possible. Or so it seemed.
Then, from nowhere, Dzeko scored. Silva swung yet another corner in and the Bosnian leapt highest to give us a glimmer of hope. 92 minutes in and we knew that one more goal would secure the title.
And then came the moment that will live long in the memory. Receiving the ball from Nigel De Jong, Sergio Leonel “Kun” Agüero del Castillo played a one-two with the much-maligned Mario Balotelli and then time stopped. At the ground, I saw the net ripple. Cue absolute pandemonium. Utter chaos. Raw joy. Pure emotion.
Replays showed just how superb a finish it was from Aguero. Most would have snatched at the shot, but the Argentinean is a world class performer, worth every penny of the £38m we paid for him. The composure he displayed in taking that extra touch to round Taiwo was remarkable and then he fired home past Kenny to send us delirious. For a split second, I thought he may go to ground and we would get a penalty. Perhaps a Balotelli spot-kick in the 95th minute to win the title would have been too much. As it was, I doubt anything will ever top the seconds after Aguero’s goal. He has made sure the players and staff will be remembered as legends and rightly so.
Even a couple of days later, it seems unreal. The fact that Manchester City Football Club are Champions of England hasn’t sunk in and probably won’t do for quite some time. Thank you Sheikh Mansour. Thank you Roberto Mancini. Thank you Sergio Aguero. And thank you to everyone connected with this amazing club. I am privileged to support you.
Manchester City, Premier League Champions.
Bang on as always,broke my watch in the celebrations but never mind.
What took you so long tough,i know u must be still hungover with the celebrations but u have a job to do.Don’t be so late when we win the champions league in a year or two
I do not recall in my entire life my mood change from utter sadness to utter ecstasy in a matter of minutes in a way it did. If there is a state that no word can describe, then this must be the one.
The title by itself is a monumental achievement but ,boy, the manner we won it is even more and the egg on the faces of rags in Stadium of Light ,esp Sir Alex, after their final whistle was priceless.
I would also like to thank the blogger of this forum “A view from the blue” for his excellent blogs during the whole season and I am already looking forward to the next season and the great blogs-to-come.
Just found your comment – June 10th! Your “mood change” comment is spot on1 I don’t know how many times I’ve watched the highlights of that final game on the Official City website- just to see that young City fan,just after Nasri lost a second or two’s time at that throw-in- round about the 27 min mark on the website. The fan thrashes where he’s standing with his scarf – then, a few seconds later – I think I saw him again, might be wrong – he is in absolute raptures with the others around him I wonder who he is!
Great recap, brings it all back to me……You are right this game typified City and what it is to be a supporter of this team. As said above this is an excellent blog and i look forward to reading your future posts…….Anyways thank you so much Mancini and all the players, and of coarse thank you Sheikh Mansour…..Oh and glad you mentioned Mario cause he’s top
LOVE the blog!! Really enjoyed the review. You are a brilliant writer and bring all the emotions and highlights to life. Thank you
How about a bit of praise for Q.P.R , people forget that we had a big part to play in what was a fantastic game of football and if you cast your memory back to earlier in the season when we played you at home it was another tight game.Anyway congratulations on winning the league you were by far the most consistant team this season and deserved to win the title.Has we stayed in the league by the skin of our teeth lets look forward to another couple of encounters next season. All the best!!!
Yeah, Rangers really shat you all up but worth it in the end for all concerned. Fair play to Blue Manchester, we gave you a good run for the oil money at Loftus Road as well but having seen the way they behaved at the soulless kabuki of charades a month ago one can say, feck Fergie and dem red clad brats. Well done although we’ll do you proper next time. Enjoy, forever.
Well summed up, amazing year. Thanks for the blog It is always a must read for me. It was the most amazing match to watch. Being up at 2am to watch it over here I could not get to sleep even tho I had work in a few hours was completely worth every second. Woke up an entire house lot of people with screams when Sergio scored. That win is the definition of city
This season.
Hats off to qpr for a good fight and the supporters being a sporting bunch.
*GAEL CLICHY IS MY HERO!!! LIKES THIS BLOG…ALOT*
Agree the Aguero strike and situation really reminded me of the Dickov goal all those years ago! … and it was scored from about the same place, just to the right of the goal and close in, blasted into the net, brilliant!
Thanks for your blog, it’s one that I’ve enjoyed consistently! …. enjoy the close season and hope Toure stays !
Great website… consistently reliable thoughout the season. So unbelievably happy with the result. Thank you Sheikh!!
still celebrating.
It only took 1 billion you mugs, from mid table mediocraty to winners in 3 seasons says it all.