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Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd

2012-05-13 06:05:07

Manchester United have missed out on the Premier League title to rivals Manchester City despite beating Sunderland by a goal to nil

Rooney: On target

On a dramatic last day of the season, the race for top spot went down to the final minute of City’s game with QPR as Roberto Mancini’s men scored twice late on to deny the Reds.

United always knew they needed to beat the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light to stand a chance of retaining the title and they never looked like failing to do that with a professional performance of real quality.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side took control of the game from the outset and created chance after chance with Antonio Valencia giving John O’Shea a torrid time before injury ended the former United man’s game before half time.

In the end Valencia was not involved in the only goal of the game as Phil Jones curled a cross to the far post where Wayne Rooney waited unmarked to nod inside the corner on 21 minutes.

Rooney soon struck the bar from a free-kick before missing an open goal that would have ended this game as a contest on the stroke of half time.

In the second half the Red Devils continued to press forward and Paul Scholes struck the post with a superb volley before the follow up from Ryan Giggs was turned over superbly by Simon Mignolet.

There was time for Rooney to strike a post in injury time but as the final whistle blew here, United were set to be crowned league champions for a 20th time.

However, there were five minutes of injury time at the Etihad and Manchester City took full advantage to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead against Rangers to win the Premier League for the first time in their history with virtually the final kick of the season.