Even if Manchester City had not beaten Manchester United in the Carling Cup this week, they would still have won. Even taking into account that United were unlucky late in the second half, and that City’s penalty was for a foul that began some distance outside the box, the job was as good as done the moment the teams were announced.
Sir Alex Ferguson played his best XI in a first leg semi-final of the Carling Cup. That is all you need to know. At the same stage in this competition last year, you could have fired a cannon across the pitch and barely winged a regular starter for Manchester United. That night, against Derby County, Ferguson started with: Tomasz Kuszczak, Rafael, Nemanja Vidic, Jonny Evans, John O’Shea, Anderson, Paul Scholes, Darron Gibson, Nani, Carlos Tevez and Danny Wellbeck. Only Evans and Rafael (through necessity), plus Anderson survived against City. The rest were Carling Cup novices.
There were five in Manchester United’s starting XI – Edwin Van der Sar, Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney – that had not played a minute of Carling Cup football all season, plus Luis Antonio Valencia, who played 31 minutes as a substitute against Wolverhampton Wanderers. The last time Rooney started a Carling Cup game for United was November 7, 2006.
So: mission accomplished. It is no longer possible for Ferguson to claim he merely tunes out the noise from the neighbours. As United’s teamsheet arrived, stuffed with names traditionally reserved for the competitions
Ferguson truly cares about, City’s point was made. It is no longer possible for Ferguson to claim to be above it all. He is involved, and will be for the foreseeable future.
At the start of the season, Ferguson crowed that City would not go into a derby game as favourites in his lifetime: in the end it took less than six months. Those who tipped City on Tuesday – and there were plenty of them – were proven right.
The seeds for the win were sown back in September when it took United until 14 seconds from the final whistle to get their noses in front in the derby at Old Trafford. United were the better side that day, but City showed their mettle and demanded to be taken seriously. The war of words between the clubs since then has been very much bravado on United’s part. All the evidence pointed to City rapidly becoming a force in the English game.
It is about more than Tevez’s move across town, too, although that has certainly added spice. The gap between United and the rest shortened considerably the day Cristiano Ronaldo was lost to Real Madrid. He was so important to United that had the transfer not taken place, City would still have much catching up to do, for all the millions spent. Instead, at the same time as City were gaining ground via the transfer market, United were losing it: the two are coming together quicker than anybody at Old Trafford had imagined. Ferguson’s team merely confirmed that, deep down, even he now knows it.