Five greatest Premier League moments: Manchester City
Two-time Premier League champions Manchester City are one of the top flight’s biggest clubs.
Here’s our look back at their five greatest Premier League moments.
The day everything changed
On September 1, 2008, City were thrust on their way to becoming one of the game’s giants as Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group acquired the club.
The controversial reign of Thakshin Shinawatra, whose £800million fortune had been frozen in Thailand in the midst of corruption charges, was brought to a swift end.
(Photo by AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)
City’s new owners from the United Arab Emirates even provided an immediate demonstration of their wealth by smashing the British transfer record to sign Brazilian forward Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5million.
From that dramatic September day onwards, life has never been the same for the blue half of Manchester as their club’s infrastructure was revolutionised and City grew exponentially into an institution dining at football’s very top table.
The joy of six
Every set of fans thrives on schadenfreude and what better way to get one over your rivals than by embarrassing them on their own turf?
In October 2011, City travelled to Old Trafford and inflicted United’s heaviest defeat in the Premier League, their biggest home reverse since 1955 and secured the largest winning margin in Manchester derby history.
The visitors ran out resounding 6-1 victors thanks to a brace from Mario Balotelli, who revealed his infamous ‘why always me?’ undershirt, further goals from Sergio Aguero and David Silva and a late Edin Dzeko double.
The successful survival mission
Things weren’t always so rosy for the Citizens, who have twice suffered relegation from the Premier League.
After joining the newly-formed division as a founder member in 1992, their stay in the top-flight looked like it may be brought to an end after six years during the 1994-95 campaign as a City side then managed by Brian Horton diced with danger all season long.
(Photo by Shaun Botterill/ALLSPORT)
Victories over Liverpool and eventual champions Blackburn Rovers in April turned the tide but City would only pick up two points from their final four games, going down 3-2 to Queens Park Rangers at Maine Road on the last game of the season.
No matter, though, as results elsewhere, including Aston Villa’s 1-1 draw with Norwich City, meant that they finished four points clear of the relegation zone, which in those days, was the bottom four.
The unparalleled finish
Surely there’s barely a football fan around that doesn’t know the story of the final day of the 2011-12 Premier League season?
City fans went from the depths of despair to unbridled ecstasy on May 13 2012.
Somehow, as they chased a first title in 44 years, they conspired to trail a struggling Queens Park Rangers outfit 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium, even after Joey Barton had been sent off for striking out at both Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero.
Elsewhere, rivals United were cruising to a 1-0 win at Sunderland and it looked as though Roberto Mancini’s troops were on their way to spectacularly imploding at the final hurdle – but then came the drama.
Edin Dzeko headed in two minutes into added time and then, with 94 minutes on the clock, Mario Balotelli teed up Aguero to fire his way into Premier League folklore.
Challenge accepted and seen off
Inspired by the goals of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool looked the team on course to win the Premier League in 2013-14, particularly after dispatching City 3-2 at Anfield in April 2014, going seven points clear in the process.
City, then led by Manuel Pellegrini, were written off but, despite drawing with Sunderland in their next game, they were a picture of consistency from there on out, winning their next five matches.
(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Liverpool meanwhile, failed to heed captain Steven Gerrard’s boisterous on-pitch warning and let things slip by losing at home to Chelsea and drawing 3-3 at Crystal Palace.
City meanwhile, held their nerve to claim their second Premier League title in the space of three years.
