“Manchester City is still alive here. Balotelli. . . AGUEROOOOOOOO. . . “It’s THE defining moment in the Premier League’s 30-year history, and it would be hard to find a football fan who couldn’t emulate Martin Tyler. Iconic words on Sky Sports after Sergio Aguero’s fairytale goal in the 93rd minute and 20 seconds against Queens Park Rangers won the Premier League for the first time in their history at the expense of bitter rivals Manchester United.
No one who has seen the cases scattered on that dramatic day will know where they were or who they were with. Still, there was much more to this total case than just that split moment of Aguero’s magic. With contributions from former City central defender Joleon Lescott, famed supporter Ricky Hatton, then-club photographer Sharon Latham and former QPR midfielder Shaun Derry, here’s the story of May 13, 2012, ten years later, like you’ve never heard of it before.
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Entering the final day of the 2011-12 campaign, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Sir Alex Ferguson’s City and United were tied at 86 points at most, but the former’s far superior purpose difference meant that, realistically, both only had to get one win to ensure they completed the best of the pack in England for the first time since 1968. Their war matches QPR, however, also had everything to play. Mark Hughes’ side were two things above the fall, meaning that if relegation rivals Bolton beat Stoke, they would want a draw for their safety.
Huge tension from both sides, therefore. Still, Lescott, who had built a formidable partnership at the back with captain Vincent Kompany, insists there were no nerves before the big kickoff. “We enjoyed that locker room a lot, so we got carried away. “remember. ” We didn’t do anything else in training, and coach Roberto Mancini didn’t say anything special. We only had one task to do and we treated it like any other game. “
Derry, however, has another edition of occasions, as it tells the vision from the point of view of QPR. and the week before we had won against Stoke with a late goal to give us a chance to stay awake.
“What gave us great excitement was getting off the bus at the Etihad and seeing the Premier League trophy in the area. You knew they thought it would be a foregone conclusion, and it gave us some hope. When you see that and recognize that everyone in the stadium thinks it’s done and dusted, it brought us to life. When the game started and it became clear that we weren’t going to turn around, it’s possible that I started to feel the nerves of the holes. “
Despite the positive outlook from Derry and QPR, it looked like everything was going to go well for the hosts when veteran full-back Pablo Zabaleta scored with a somewhat lucky finish five minutes before half-time to kick off the name party. Still, the field was silenced just after the break when Lescott himself made a big mistake by directing the ball straight into the trail of Hoops striker Djibril Cissé, who finished with aplomb.
But just when it seemed like the wind was spinning came the strangest moment of the day. QPR’s notoriously combative midfielder Joey Barton argued with Carlos Tevez off the ball, earning him a red card. However, instead of leaving the field immediately, the current Bristol Rovers manager has gone completely crazy, attacking Aguero and doing his best to try to liquidate City’s players. Both sides were far from inspired through their actions.
“I’m not a fan of him, and I’m just looking to get things done,” Lescott says disdainfully. “It was Joey being Joey, and he was looking to attract our players, but I think he underestimated us. you have to worry about this nonsense. “
“We were surprised by what Joey did that day,” Derry admits. “It was a bad reaction from someone who played very well. We knew Joey had the ability to press the self-destruct button. However, it didn’t actually replace our game plan because we were sitting very deeply anyway and in fact it would possibly have galvanized us. “
In fact, incredibly, despite their men’s disadvantage, QPR achieved the improbable maximum of ball losses when Jamie Mackie finished a devastating counter-attack with a very good header to completely shake up the waiting champions. With United’s victory at Sunderland, it meant that Sky Blues’ long quest to end the years of red rule in the city was about to be suspended again, and total depression took hold of the ground.
In the stands, a familiar face got tired. ” I was in a box, and when I was 2-1, I ran to get a beer and started sulking,” recalls the boxing legend and City Hatton fan. surrendered, to be honest. City seem to do things the hard way, and it looked like we were going to bottle it once again. “
Closer to the action, Sharon Latham had a task to do. Now racing with Noel Gallagher, Sharon made history at the time by adapting the first official photographer of a women’s club in the Premier League when she joined City. “My role that day was to be on the edge of the pitch and capture the reaction of those on the bench like Mancini and his coaches,” he said. The attack progressed, you felt the apprehension and the feeling of “oh no, it’s gone again. “But I had the instinctive feeling that we were still going to win all the time. Don’t ask me how, however, I had this vision.
As time passed into full time, natural distress seeped into the stadium. But Eden Dzeko’s towering header presented hope in the 92nd minute, as the final whistle almost blew at the Britannia Stadium: Bolton had only controlled a 2-2 draw with Stoke. , which means QPR would be safe regardless of its own outcome.
Then came the time that will be talked about in centuries.
“I didn’t even see him touch the net!” reveals Lescott of Aguero’s goal. “I wasn’t close to him because Vinny and I were spinning upstairs and I was in the middle line. turning to the bench and seeing crazy faces that most people wouldn’t recognize: coaches who spend every minute of the season while you’re there, who spend more hours than the players. Many of them have been at the club for decades and hadn’t been very successful, and I just stuck them. It was general chaos. “
“This moment was so vital that if I had missed something, I would have mortified myself,” Sharon adds. he scored and that’s my favorite photo of the day (see below). I also put players on the bench like Gareth Barry and James Milner who hug each other. These moments are captured in time. All I was looking for was to run. to celebrate, but I had to be professional.
Meanwhile, Hatton had fortunately come off the crossbar after Dzeko’s goal. “When they returned the ball to Mario Balotelli, I screamed” explodes!It’s smart that he didn’t because the pass to Aguero was brilliant.
“It’s the first time I’ve cried at a football match. I burst into tears. I got tired of years watching this and then winning it like that, talking about a roller coaster. Liam Gallagher one or a few boxes of me crying too, and he said ‘are we going to faint tonight then?!'”
It was one of the rare moments in football where either group was excited about the final result. Still, Derry suffered more emotional turmoil than most.
“Me and the rest of the players furthest from the shelter had no idea we were safe,” he said. Absorbed in the game that noise and the environment do not play a role.
“The moment I found out the smart news came here while I was still on the ground and Mackie came in and said ‘don’t worry, we’re doing it anyway. ‘It was an incredible sense of relief. “
Pandemonium scenes for both teams, with celebrations extending into the last night. “The party in the locker room is unlike anything I’d noticed before,” Sharon said. incredible. I can still listen to the songs and the songs. There’s a picture I took of Yaya Touré and Joe Hart hugging each other and everything around them is moving very fast (see below). It’s a beautiful photo. Mario Balotelli as dumb as ever. I think those are some of my favorite photos.
“After the beep in the locker room, there were celebrations, but also a lot of emotion,” Lescott recalls. “A lot of guys took the time to appreciate what they had done. We just enjoyed it together. It was more like a week of celebrations than a night. “
Hatton, for his part, couldn’t get a chance to get involved.
“Liam and I were invited to come to Manchester City Hall for the birthday party with the players, staff and their wives. We weren’t with our girlfriends, so we made the decision to make it!We drank beers and chatted with Mancini. ” Balotelli and Kompany, who has been friends with me for smart years. Winning the championship as we did, dating Liam Gallagher, who has been one of my heroes, may not have been right. It was a very complicated night. I woke up and just as I thought I might fall asleep, Liam called me and said, “Do you want to get on the team bus with the trophy?”And I thought, ‘Oh, here we go again. ‘ Obviously, I went. “
For QPR, genuine celebrations took place the next day. “At first, we were absolutely exhausted,” Derry says. That’s until we sat on the bus and went back to London and the party started. sandwiches at 11 a. m. the next day and took the liquor celebrations to Chiswick, where they were quite messy. “
A decade on, we have still not seen anything even close to what we witnessed on that fateful day in east Manchester. So how do our four central characters look back upon it now?
“It has to be regarded as the greatest Premier League moment ever,” claims Lescott. “Even if a team like Everton were to beat their rivals Liverpool in that same last-gasp scenario, it would only be the second time it’s been done. It has to be seen as the best because it’s the first time anything like that’s happened.
“Actually, I hate to see him again. I did anything with Micah Richards, Kompany and Zabaleta for the blocked club where we did a review of the game. They agree that it’s too scary to look at it again, even though we know what’s going to happen. The result is good, though.
“Overall, I feel very proud to be involved,” Derry recalls. “It was a remarkable game, and those last five minutes provided every feeling imaginable in football. My son likes to remind me tenderly that I only touched the ball about 11 or 12 times in total play!Anyway, it was a privilege to be there and play a role in history. “
Sharon left City a few years later, at the same time pep Guardiola took over. “This game has to be the focus of my time at the club,” he said. witness what happened, and I like to think I did a job.
“I sometimes play a video I took with my phone in the locker room if I ever doubt what I’m doing and it makes me feel smart about myself once again. “
“Beating Kostya Tszyu in front of the enthusiasts in my house was probably the most productive feeling of my life. . . but if anything brings him closer, that’s Aguero’s goal,” Laughs Hatton. “I will definitely send you a little text message on your birthday. “say ‘Happy ten years, Serge’. He will continue to be a legend at this club. “
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