Now, they played against each other again. Last time City knocked out United out of the competition with a 1-0 win courtesy of a Yaya Toure Goal in the 52^nd minute. Expectations were high from key players like David de Gea who is known for his goalkeeping skills in the Manchester United team.

This was really a head to head battle to watch. Wayne Rooney was also expected to show some marvelous goal hitting performance in this match because of his solid performance in front of 75,322 people at Old Trafford.

This 23 year old soccer player is known for his major victory for the Etihad Stadium Side. According to Roberto Mancini, City’s manager, he is building a team that is capable of winning the Premier League. Known as the son-in-law of Diego Maradona, Aguero is a key figure for the future of the Argentine national side. Aguero has also been coveted by both Juventus and Real Madrid.

You will be glad to know that this player is also thought to have indicated his willingness to move to the Premier League after discussions over the City’s offer with his wife, Giannina in the coming weekend.

With this tremendous win, the boss of the Red Devils can’t stop praising the performances of his chargers. He even went on to compare this victory to the 1999 win over Juventus.

As per Sir Alex Ferguson, this match undoubtedly put forth the best performance of United Manchester in Europe.

Held at Veltins-Arena, the victory of United Manchester is mainly attributed to the goals from Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney without which it seemed impossible for this historic victory.

Despite the fact that the victory at Juventus will always remain high, however, the last night’s match can also be compared as a high ranking one.

Sir Alex Ferguson said that the team performed fantastic and certainly one of the best so far. He further gave credit for the victory to the players and their belief in each other. 

The goals of the match came from Dimitar Berbatov, who posted two goals and another goal came from Javier Hernandez in the second half and recovered Manchester from two goals down. With this, the team moved five points ahead in the Premier League run.

In the first half, Blackpool’s Craig Cathcart put the team ahead after its first goal at 16^th minute. The second goal from DJ Campbell before half-time even made things worst for Manchester United, thereby giving quite trouble to the team’s 27-match unbeaten position.

But the sparking out of Ryan Giggs and Javier Hernandez somehow managed the team in the second half. At 72 minutes, Berbatov with the first goal able to reduce the gap. Soon, Hernandez got the team at draw with the second goal for the team. Later, at 88 minutes, Berbatov smashed with the winning goal.

As a matter of fact, Blackpool has not been able to defeat Manchester United since 1963, though they dominated United till the opening 45 minutes of the game. However, the United team finally got a chance to lead the match and beat Blackpool in the last 20 minutes of the game. With so many exciting moments involved, it was an overall interesting match. 

The news of Wayne Rooney’s wish to quit Old Trafford is not going to dampen the spirits of Manchester United in any possible way. The United midfielder Darren Fletcher is focused and also cautions its rivals at the Premier League.

Though the news of Wayne Rooney leaving has shocked everyone and is seen as a blow to the team’s hope of giving tough competition at the league, but the United midfielder Fletcher is confidant that his team can still do better without Rooney. He expects to prove the team’s rise at the Sunday match that it is playing at Stoke.

Fletcher also states that there has been many such earlier cases of high profile players leaving the club, but that doesn’t dampen the club’s spirits to keep going and win trophies.

Again, another person in limelight is the Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson. It seems that he will also be in trouble if the team doesn’t beat Blackburn at Anfield. After several defeats even at the hands of local rivals, the team now desperately need to win this match.

Amongst all the matches, the most exciting one seems to be the one at Eastlands where Manchester City will clash with Arsenal team to keep the pressure on leaders Chelsea to prove their contendership.

Berbatov has been in tremendous form this season and has already scored six times this season and it has been a very timely return to form for him as well as United as Rooney has been struggling to find the net. Also he was highly criticized during the last season where he barely managed to keep up pace with the side.

It was a see saw battle that saw Liverpool coming back to level terms after trailing by 2 goals and finally loosing by a solitary goal. The first half was totally dominated by United as they had a number of chances to score but managed to open the account only on the 42nd minute of the first half by a header from Berbatov. Liverpool made a comeback through a penalty kick by Gerrard and then he scored again from a free kick just outside the box bringing Liverpool on level terms. It was Berbatov’s third goal of the game in the 85th minute that clinched the game for United.

Bayern Munich managed to pull off a major upset when they knocked Manchester United out of the UEFA Champions League. Alex Ferguson, the manager of the English team was absolutely lost for words in the presentation that followed the match. He could not come up with any genuine reason for his team’s dismal performance. He thought that the false protest from the Germans which led to Rafael’s send off was the turning point of the match.

The Brazilian star looked in excellent from and had kept Frank Ribery really quite as long as he was on the field. Manchester United was playing really beautifully until the yellow cards were shown to Rafael. Bayern Munich, on the other hand, seems to be on a roll and have reached the semi-finals riding high on confidence. The stars of the team, RIbery and Arjen Robben are performing wonderfully under the shrewd leadership of Louis van Gaal.

Bayern Munich have been playing superbly right from the group stage when they came against Juventus in a must win game. They have shown great character and resolved to be where they are presently. Their performance has also sent the warning bells to the English national side who may come up against them in the upcoming World Cup in South Africa.

The fortunes of the Munich captain have also changed dramatically as the team has left behind the defeats which they suffered at home and abroad before Christmas. The success of the German team can be associated to their collective effort and they also have the rub of the green going their way on the field. Their good fortune of the team has ensured that United would have to wait for another year to taste success in this European League.

A massive crowd present at the London Wembley Stadium witnessed Manchester United retain the England’s League Cup as they defeated Aston Villa 2-1. The header by Rooney was his 28th goal of the season and also proved to be decisive in the end. Rooney was relieved to have scored the winning goal although he admitted that he had some difficulty with his sore knee.

Aston villa took an early lead in the match with the help of James Milner’s goal which came in the fifth minute. Michael Owen though leveled the score in the 12th minute but he had to leave the field in the 42nd minute due to his hamstring injury.

Manchester United had begun their encounter without Rooney and Michael Owen had taken the responsibility of the club’s attack with Berbatov. The sudden departure of Owen meant that Rooney had to step in to the field and this proved a blessing in disguise for Manchester United. Rooney also created another chance that was narrowly missed in the dying moments of the match. The wonderful display of the English Premier League champions of last season means that they retain the Carling Cup.

Meanwhile, Vahid Halilhodzic, the manager of the Ivory Coast was fired due to the poor performance of his team in African Cup of Nations that was held in January. Ivory Coast had a poor show in the tournament and did not even reach the semi-finals. The President of the Ivorian Football Federation, Jacques Anouma declared that there would be an announcement made very soon about the new manager of the team.

Sunday saw one of the biggest upsets of the FA Cup when Leeds knocked Manchester United out of the competition. Leeds thanks to the 19th minute goal by Jermaine Beckford won their first game at the Old Trafford after 1981. No other team had been able to knock Manchester United out of the third round apart from Bournemouth who achieved the feat in 1984. Alex Ferguson took charge of the Manchester United in 1986 and since then the club has been able to get their hands on the trophy on as many as five occasions and hold a record 11 FA Cup triumphs overall.

Leeds who has just one FA Cup title has a tough draw ahead in the next round to Tottenham. The once powerful team slipped though when they were hit by some major financial troubles. The poor performance by the Premier League Champions of the last three seasons had Ferguson scathing. The defeat came as a big shock for Ferguson who had not expected it at all. He admitted that Leeds played like tigers, which was expected of every team in a FA Cup tie. He also said that the Beckford’s great pace had his team napping and felt very disappointed at the loss.

Chelsea on the other hand had a comprehensive victory over Watford as they defeated them 5-0 to make it to the fourth round of the competitions. Daniel Sturridge scored two goals while Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard had one each and the other one came from John Eustace of Watford when he put the ball into his own net.

David Beckham who left the Manchester United in 2003 for Real Madrid is dreaming of making a return to his old club. Beckham has made it clear that he would like to play at Old Trafford before the draw for the knockout stages of Champions League takes place. There is a good probability that Manchester United get paired with AC Milan after the draw. Beckham is set for a second loan spell and is expected to return to Milan in January and there is a good chance that English champions may face Manchester United in the succeeding month.

Beckham had a very good stint with Manchester United where he collected a Champion League winners’ medal in the 1999 season. Beckham admitted that he loves big games and had always hoped to play against his former team. He also said that he would love it if the draw puts AC Milan against his old club where he has not returned in the last seven years. He suggested that playing against his former club would be very difficult as well as very exciting.

Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manger, though does not want to come up against AC Milan. He said he would prefer to avoid a one on one with Leonardo, the Milan coach. Ancelotti had guided Milan to two Champions League wins during his stint. However, he felt there wan no problem even if Chelsea was paired up against Milan acknowledging the fact that Football does put forward such type of situation.