- [Narrator] It's May 13th, 2012.
Manchester, England.
We're deep into stoppage time of a match between
Manchester City and the visiting Queens Park Rangers.
The English Premier League title depends on this moment.
Before it happens, we need to understand why.
What happened to make this game so important?
What these people are thinking?
And how the hell City gave up two goals to QPR?
Let's rewind.
Before we look on the pitch, let's take a look
around the crowd to see how folks at Etihad Stadium
are feeling.
A little nervous.
See, if City wins this match,
they win the whole Premier League.
That's an honor typically reserved for their local rival
and historic bully, Manchester United.
Both clubs have over a century of history.
And United's done a lot more winning
throughout that history.
They've had the upper hand in the head-to-head match ups
known as the Manchester Derby.
And they've spent much more time on top.
Manchester United has nineteen league titles,
including four of the five preceding this one.
Manchester City has two league titles, all time.
Their last one came in 1968, decades before
the Premier League was formed.
As recently as the late '90s and early 2000s,
when United was busy winning multiple league titles,
City was relegated to the lower tiers of English football.
That was a flareup of what fans call "typical City,"
or "Cityitis."
A pathology dating back to at least 1938,
when City became the rare team who,
one year after winning the league title,
got relegated out of it.
City scored a league-leading 104 goals in the 1958 season
and conceded 100.
In 1996, City dribbled out the clock to draw a game
they didn't realize they desperately needed to win
to avoid relegation.
So it was a big deal for City fans when in 2008,
extremely rich ownership took over and started spending
record-setting amounts of money on talent,
when they hired trophy-winning Italian coach
Roberto Mancini as manager,
and when City soon became to climb up Premier League tables.
But nothing would be bigger, nothing a greater relief
from Cityitis than winning a title.
This torment you see is that of fans who know
winning it all depends on what happens right here,
but also on the outcome of another match 100 miles away
involving the only other team in contention.
Which is, you guessed it.
Manchester United.
The two neighboring clubs have handed first place
back and forth throughout this 2011-2012 season.
United had the clear upper hand entering April,
but fell within striking distance
thanks to a loss at Wigan and a terrible blown lead
that resulted in a draw with Everton.
City only edged back ahead recently, thanks to this man.
Vincent Kompany.
City and United met for a crucial Manchester Derby
on April 30th, the third to last week of the season.
Sitting in first place, United manager Alex Ferguson
sent out a conservative defensive team.
Essentially playing for a draw.
Each team would get a point in the standings
and United would remain on top.
But Kompany, City's brilliant defender and team captain,
headed in a corner to give City the match's only goal.
The victory tied the teams atop the table
with City holding a tiebreaker because of goal differential.
And such were the circumstances heading
into today's fixtures, which all kicked off
at exactly the same time.
City at home in Manchester facing QPR,
United away at Sunderland.
Holding the tiebreaker means all City has to do
to stay in first and win it all is match United's result.
If United lose, then City win the Premier League.
If United draw, then City have to draw themselves.
If United win, then City's got to win too.
People involved in each match are keeping a close eye
on the other one, and 20 minutes into the afternoon's games,
the folks in Manchester got word that up in Sunderland,
Wayne Rooney had scored for United.
Meanwhile, City and QPR were still at nil-nil.
So at that moment, United were on pace
to win the Premier League.
But about 20 minutes later, here in Manchester,
City defender Pablo Zabaleta scored his first goal
of the season on a funky bounce off the keeper's hand.
- [Commentator] It's in!
It's in!
- [Narrator] So at half-time, City was on pace for a win
and back atop the table.
No matter what happened with United, all City had to do
to win the trophy was hold that lead.
Clearly, they did not do that.
Here, it's important to understand
what these guys are thinking.
Queens Park Rangers sit near the bottom of the table,
but this match matters a lot to them too.
QPR entered the day in fourth to last place,
two points ahead of Bolton.
After today's season-ending matches, the bottom three clubs
will be relegated to the League Championship,
England's second tier.
If Bolton beats Stoke City today, they'll earn three points
and quite possibly leapfrog QPR in the standings,
depending on a result in Manchester.
And Bolton scored twice to enter half-time up two-one.
So while City came out for the second half
hoping to maintain their clean sheet
and win the Premier League,
QPR suddenly needed goals to make sure that they
could stay in the Premier League.
QPR had less to gain but much more to lose.
So they were hungry.
If City made a mistake, they would devour it.
And this whoospie of a header by Joleon Lescott
was a big, big mistake.
United were still up one-zero, and City were tied.
So United were once again on pace
to be Premier League champions.
And this didn't (bleep) help.
No one marked QPR's Jamie Mackie, and he buried a header
to put the underdog up two goals to one.
City haven't lost in Manchester all season,
and yet they trailed in the second half against
the worst away side in the league, while their rivals
held a one-nil lead elsewhere.
Not ideal.
But clearly two-one didn't hold either.
At this point, we should take a look at who's participating
in this moment for City.
This right here is Edin Dzeko.
Down one to two, a livid Roberto Mancini
subbed in Dzeko as an extra striker.
City desperately needed goals, plural,
and Dzeko's good at those.
The opportunities were there, but just slipped away.
At the end of 90 minutes, another opportunity
dissolved in brutal fashion, and City still trailed.
Remember, with United rolling toward victory,
even a two-two draw won't be enough for City.
But you need two goals before you can get three.
And after the referees applied an unusually high
five minutes of stoppage time, Dzeko finally connected,
freeing himself with a clever feint to head in a corner.
So that's one scoring option here for the third goal
City desperately needs.
But I want to talk about why there's so much stoppage time.
It involves this man, Sergio Aguero, who you'll notice
is surrounded by only ten QPR players.
Referees add stoppage time at the end of regulation
to compensate for injuries and arguments.
Any non-soccer thing that ate into the first 90 minutes.
And in the 55th minute, we had a big non-soccer thing.
Joey Barton, a former Manchester City player,
known for his short temper, got red-carded
for this elbow to Carlos Tevez's face.
And on his way off the pitch, Barton tried to
provoke a fight and get a City player sent off with him.
He suddenly attacked Aguero, like for real assaulted him.
So QPR got their second goal playing down a man,
while until Dzeko's goal in extra time,
City simply could not capitalize on opportunities to score.
Although it's kind of hard to blame Aguero
for missing a chance like this one when we just saw him
get the shit kicked out of his legs.
This is all to say that while Aguero is rushing in
as a potential scoring option, he is maybe not at 100%.
Meanwhile, the man with the ball is Mario Balotelli.
Balotelli is known for his sometimes outlandish behavior,
and he's known for his divine scoring ability.
That's why Mancini subbed him into the game.
When you need goals, you turn to a guy like Balotelli.
Although as he loses his balance, it's not looking like
he's gonna be able to shoot the ball he just touched.
Neither is Dzeko, who is out of Balotelli's range
on the left side.
Nor Derby hero Vincent Kompany,
who's dummying out of the way, hoping to pull
a defender with him.
The ball probably won't make it to David Silva,
open on the right wing.
If anyone's gonna get there,
it'll have to be Sergio Aguero,
the man who recently got his legs smashed.
And Aguero's gonna have to make something happen right here.
Because those five minutes are almost gone,
and because moments ago, up in Sunderland,
United wrapped up their one-nil victory.
They're already celebrating, at least tentatively.
And QPR fans are celebrating too, because they heard
Bolton ended up with a draw, meaning their team
is safe from relegation.
But City fans, sheer terror.
Waves of nervous rage.
These are backers of a club that's hurt them
for the better part of a century.
A club that finally had the upper hand
on its lifelong rival but so miserably squandered the chance
for a simple, painless victory,
and now stands one more blown opportunity away
from a devastating bout of Cityitis.
Okay, here we are.
Welcome to a moment in history.
- [Commentator] Balotelli, Aguerrroooooo!
I swear, you'll never see anything like this ever again!
- [Narrator] Wait, sorry, turn it back on real quick.
Because Manchester United and their fans
followed the end of this game just like we did.
Welcome to another simultaneous moment in history.
- [Commentator] And the news is coming through!
The Manchester United have lost it!
Manchester City have snatched it from them!