In the 2011–12 Premier League season, the first game between Manchester United and Manchester City took place at Old Trafford, Manchester, on 23 October 2011. The fixture was both teams' ninth game of the season. City won the match 6–1, their biggest ever win in the Manchester derby, and their biggest win at Old Trafford since they won 5–0 in 1955. This was the first time in the clubs' history that the first and second place faced off in the Manchester derby.

In the match itself, Mario Balotelli opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, revealing a message on his undershirt that read "Why Always Me?" in reference to several off-the-field stories that were being run about him at the time. City led at the break, and in the 47th minute Jonny Evans was given a red card for a foul on Balotelli, who then scored his second in the 60th minute, and Sergio Agüero made it three shortly after. United scored a consolation goal through Darren Fletcher, but City scored three in injury time, with Edin Džeko scoring two and assisting David Silva, the recipient of the man of the match award. The game came to be regarded as one of the first glimpses that dominance in English football had shifted from one side of Manchester to the other.

Background + League position going into the game Pos Team Pld W D L F A GD Pts 1 Manchester City 8 7 1 0 27 6 21 22 2 Manchester United 8 6 2 0 25 6 19 20 3 Chelsea 8 6 1 1 20 9 11 19 4 Newcastle United 8 4 4 0 11 6 5 16 5 Tottenham Hotspur 8 5 1 2 15 12 3 16 The Manchester derby is a football match between the two Premier League teams in the Greater Manchester region, Manchester United and Manchester City. They had met 150 times before this match. The first non-competitive match was played in 1881, while the first competitive match took place in 1891. Both matches were won by Newton Heath (who later became Manchester United) against Ardwick (who would become Manchester City). The Manchester derby had taken place 73 times in history, since 5 January 1895. The outcomes at Old Trafford are 32 wins for United, 25 draws and 16 wins for City. In the Premier League, the teams had met 14 times; Manchester United had won nine matches, Manchester City had won one and there were four draws.

The previous Premier League game between the two teams at Old Trafford resulted in a 2–1 win for United with goals from Nani and the bicycle kick of Wayne Rooney, however the most recent match between the two sides had been at Wembley Stadium in August 2011 for the annual Community Shield, when United won 3–2 thanks to goals from Chris Smalling and a double from Nani. In April 2011, a Yaya Toure goal gave City a 1–0 victory over United in the FA Cup semi-final, coupled with FC Barcelona's win over United in the UEFA Champions League final had prevented the Red Devils from completing a treble. City would go on to win the cup by beating Stoke City in the final.

In total, United had recorded 66 victories in competitive meetings with their rivals; City won 43 of the matches and there had been 50 draws. Since the mid-1970s, United had been the better-performing of the Manchester clubs; they finished above City every year from 1990, and during the 1998–99 season they were two divisions above their local rivals. Whereas United had won a host of major trophies, including 12 league titles and three European trophies, during the previous 20 years, before City's recent FA Cup triumph they had not won a major trophy for more than 30 years and had spent 10 out of 19 seasons between 1983 and 2002 outside the top flight. They had not won the top-flight division in 44 years.

Start of the 2011–12 season

City began the season being managed by Italian manager Roberto Mancini who had been in the role since December 2009. City had secured qualification for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League in the previous season and would play in the competition for the first time. United started the 2011–12 season as reigning league champions, having won the 2010–11 Premier League, and were runners-up in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League. They were managed by Sir Alex Ferguson, who had been at the club since 1986.

During the summer transfer window, City had signed former United player Owen Hargreaves on a free transfer. The Blues had also notably spent big by acquiring Sergio Agüero (£36 million) from Atlético Madrid, Samir Nasri (£24 million) and Gaël Clichy (£10 million) from Arsenal. On the other side of the divide United had brought in three signings on undisclosed fees with Aguero's Atlético teammate David de Gea joining Ashley Young from Aston Villa and Phil Jones from Blackburn Rovers. In the FA Community Shield on 7 August 2011, United beat City 3–2 at Wembley Stadium. The two teams arrived at the first Premier League derby of the season, in the ninth matchweek, still unbeaten.

On 27 September 2011, Carlos Tevez who had controversially joined City from United in 2009 was named as a substitute for City's UEFA Champions League game at Bayern Munich. Mancini claimed Tevez refused to come on as a substitute in the second half, when City were 2–0 down to Bayern, although Tevez denied this, calling it a misunderstanding. Tevez's actions received widespread condemnation from various pundits and commentators, with Mancini claiming he wanted Tevez "out of Manchester City", and that he would never play for the club again. Tevez was suspended by City for a maximum period of two weeks as the club began an investigation into whether he refused to come on as a substitute. Following discussions with Mancini, club owner Sheikh Mansour authorised the placing of Tevez on garden leave where the Argentinian would be paid in full but instructed to stay away from the City training ground.

City had secured seven victories and a draw, putting them top of the league with 22 points, two points ahead of United, who had won six matches and drawn two.

Pre-match The match kicked off at 13:30 local time on 23 October 2011 at Old Trafford where 75,487 spectators were attending the match. The weather was cloudy, and the outside temperature was . There was no rainfall during the game and the wind speed remained constant at around . The television rights of the match were held by BSkyB, and it was broadcast live on Sky Sports 1 HD. The match was City's 100th with Roberto Mancini as manager.

The referee for the Manchester derby was Mark Clattenburg with the help of the assistant referees Simon Beck and Stephen Child.

Match Team selection United were without Tom Cleverley (foot) and Darron Gibson (ankle), with Rafael (shoulder) listed as doubtful. City headed into the game missing Carlos Tevez due to an internal suspension, while Nigel de Jong was doubtful with a hip injury. Owen Hargreaves, who City had acquired from United in the summer, was not selected in the matchday squad.

First half

In the opening minutes, United began on the front foot with left winger Ashley Young twice getting the better of Micah Richards, winning a free-kick and a corner on the left side of the pitch. Young threatened again with another free-kick but Balotelli cleared the ball out of the area with a header. During the early minutes, United continued pressing City and in the 10th minute, Wayne Rooney went down under a challenge from City captain Vincent Kompany but the referee Clattenburg did not award a penalty. Despite United starting the brighter, City opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with an angled, first-time shot from 18 yards from Mario Balotelli that beat David De Gea after a good passage of play on the right between David Silva and James Milner. Balotelli celebrated with a T-shirt that said "Why always me?". United attempted to find a way back with both Anderson and Rooney testing City keeper Joe Hart, while Jonny Evans failed to convert, having miskicked a cross from Rooney. The last attempt of the first period was a counter-attack for United, but United's forward Danny Welbeck was fouled by Vincent Kompany who received a yellow card.

Second half The second half started poorly for United when Evans was given a straight red card in the 47th minute after pulling back Balotelli and denying him a clear goalscoring opportunity as the last defender. Balotelli stayed on his feet until entering the penalty area as Evans pulled back his arm, but Clattenburg awarded a free-kick outside the area. City now on the front foot went close had when Balotelli picked out Sergio Agüero with a deep cross but the striker failed to connect with a volley. United applied more pressure with Rooney testing Hart again but City made their numerical superiority count with a well-worked second goal for Balotelli, making it 2–0. David Silva caught out the home defence with a brilliant ball for Milner inside the area and Balotelli arrived unmarked to turn in his cross for a sixth goal in five games. City were now in complete control and in the 69th minute, Agüero made it 3–0 by finishing with a close-range strike following a cross from Richards. Balotelli was replaced by Edin Džeko who in the 76th minute went close forcing De Gea into a save.

In the 81st minute Darren Fletcher made it 3–1, scoring a consolation for United with a curling strike from the edge of the area into the top right-hand corner. City responded following a corner that was headed back across goal by Gareth Barry that was kept in at the far post by Joleon Lescott who stabbed the ball into the unsuspecting Džeko which saw the ball ricochet off his knee and into the back of the net to make it 4–1. In the first minute of added time, Džeko turned provider as he put David Silva through on goal with the Spanish midfielder racing into the penalty box before side-footing a left-foot shot low under De Gea. In the third minute of the added time, after getting the ball within his half Silva flicked up and volleyed a pass forward that put Džeko through on goal, the Bosnian striker carried the ball into the penalty area before hitting a shot low to the left of De Gea. Referee Mark Clattenburg blew the final whistle in the 94th minute, giving City a 6–1 win.

Details

GK 1 David de GeaRB 12 Chris Smalling CB 5 Rio FerdinandCB 6 Jonny Evans LB 3 Patrice Evra (c) RM 17 Nani CM 24 Darren FletcherCM 8 Anderson LM 18 Ashley YoungCF 10 Wayne RooneyCF 19 Danny Welbeck SubstitutesGK 34 Anders LindegaardDF 4 Phil Jones DF 20 FábioDF 25 Antonio ValenciaMF 13 Park Ji-sungFW 9 Dimitar Berbatov FW 14 Javier Hernández Manager Sir Alex Ferguson GK 25 Joe HartRB 2 Micah Richards CB 4 Vincent Kompany (c) CB 6 Joleon LescottLB 22 Gaël ClichyCM 42 Yaya TouréCM 18 Gareth BarryRW 7 James Milner AM 21 David SilvaLW 45 Mario Balotelli CF 16 Sergio Agüero SubstitutesGK 30 Costel PantilimonDF 5 Pablo ZabaletaDF 13 Aleksandar Kolarov DF 28 Kolo TouréMF 19 Samir Nasri MF 34 Nigel de JongFW 10 Edin Džeko Manager Roberto Mancini Man of the Match David Silva (Manchester City)

Assistant referees Simon Beck Stephen ChildMatch rules 90 minutes Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions

Statistics StatisticManchester UnitedManchester CityGoals16Shots on target47Shots off target38Blocked shots47Corners74Fouls committed1512Offsides11Yellow cards43Red cards10Passing success84%86.2%Tackles1620Tackle success62.5%75%Possession48.9%51.1%Territorial advantage49.3%50.7%Total passes413455Total crosses3017Lost balls143120Recoveries4752Source:

Post-match