11/21/24
May 13, 2012
Manchester City Wins Premier League: With the first top-level championship in 44 years slipping from their grasp, Manchester City scored two goals in added time over QPR, winning the match 3-2 and snatching the Premier League crown from Manchester United. Sub Edin Dzeko scored the equalizer in the 92nd minute and Sergio Aguero rocketed the winner past goalie Paddy Kenny with under two minutes left. "City had played with their supporters' nerves to the point of brutality," writes Daniel Taylor for The Guardian.
QPR knew they were safe at the end, so I don't blame them for taking a breath after being under the cosh for half an hour. It would have been lovely for Citeh to choke, given the moneybags swagger they've adopted most of the season, but I don't mind the fans having their year of glory.
posted by etagloh at 12:40 PM on May 13, 2012
Epic. I was expecting mass suicides at Etihad, the way fans were throwing violent tantrums against their clothing.
posted by rcade at 12:52 PM on May 13, 2012
Still trying to catch my breath.
posted by sbacharach at 12:56 PM on May 13, 2012
Wish I'd been able to catch this on TV. Saw the 2-1 QPR score while watching West Brom and couldn't believe it. Amazing last day of the season.
posted by yerfatma at 01:03 PM on May 13, 2012
The Premiership knows how to put on a show during the final weekend. I was crying and it wasn't even my team. I love that winning a championship in the standings matters so much in that league.
During the celebration on Fox Soccer, as players huddled around jumping up and down a City fan came barreling into them after slipping.
People are calling this Manchester City's first Premier League title in 44 years. Does it matter that the Premier League didn't exist until 1992?
posted by rcade at 01:04 PM on May 13, 2012
I presume you heard that on Fox, rcade, as everyone I've heard has taken care to say "first title.".
posted by Mr Bismarck at 02:00 PM on May 13, 2012
Wow. Just wow. Just caught the last 25 minutes of the City-QPR game on DVR after returning from church (it was 2-1 QPR when we left), and what a finish. My six year-old son, albeit without much history to draw from, declared it not just the best soccer game he had seen but the best sporting event period. And we could not care less about either team. The scenes from the Stadium of Light of bewildered United supporters and a confused Fergie were pretty rich, too. Glad to see QPR stay up. Have a soft spot for them back to my days as a student in London in which QPR was the closest Premier League team to where I lived (of course, they were relegated at the end of my time there, to return only this season after a long hiatus).
posted by holden at 02:44 PM on May 13, 2012
All three promoted clubs stayed up this year, which is the first time in a while that's happened.
I'm sad that the FA Cup is no longer being the season's finale (that's now the Championship promotion playoff); I can do without the "Survival Sunday" branding; but there's something still special in having all those last matches kick off at the same time everywhere, because things change so fast. It used to be that you'd hear the rumours of scores filter across the stands from from one or two people with transistor radios; now the updates come over the phone.
As the Graun's minute-by-minute team said, Citeh aren't the best team to win the Premier League. Time will tell whether Sheikh Mansour has initiated a new arms race at the top. But for the blue side of Manchester, it's been a long time in the shadows. So now they can stop moaning about it.
posted by etagloh at 06:42 PM on May 13, 2012
Wife and I jumped around the room after watching the Arsenal match. Due to work (me) and a previous engagement (her) we watched on a 6 hour delay and I had to avoid the Internet for all that time. I even mowed the lawn to avoid learning results until my wife got home some could watch together. Hurray for 3rd! Now re-sign Robin van Persie!
P.S. I have the best wife :)
posted by scully at 08:09 PM on May 13, 2012
Pretty amazing to watch everything unfold. It was one of those time where I could have used at least five TVs, and maybe up to nine (not ten, I would not have wanted to watch the dross that was Liverpool-Swansea). Awesome, awesome day, even if I'm now the biggest Bayern Munich fan in the world.
posted by boredom_08 at 08:38 PM on May 13, 2012
I took Mrs Owl out for dinner, since she's been away for the last week. I didn't tell her that the restaurant I chose was just around the corner from Phnom Penh's best sports bar, with multiple big screens showing all the critical games live. After a lovely meal, I suggested we head there for a drink.
Two hours later, we were hugging each other and jumping around with the Citeh fans (two Mancunians), most of our friends plus a hundred neutrals. Even the United fans (in this part of the world, bandwagon jumpers as you'd expect) who cheered every City mistake were silenced in the end.
I was also back in the good books for suggesting the most happening place in town on a wet Sunday night. Fantastic finish.
posted by owlhouse at 11:05 PM on May 13, 2012
It was a weird time watching those games (Canadian TV had them on neighbouring channels, so it made it easy to switch back and forth, since PiP just ruins both games).
I started the day cheering for ManU (since they were the team I saw most often when I started watching EPL about 10 years ago).
Then, just before kick-off, I decided to cheer for ManCity, since it would be nice to have a team win it all in their own stadium.
Then, after I realized that QPR was fighting for their lives, I switched to cheering for them. That made things confusing in my head, but interesting to watch.
After ManU took the lead early, I was hoping QPR would score to at least make things interesting. But ManCity did, so I started to worry that it would be pretty much meaningless at that point.
Oh! Then QPR scores! Yay!
Oh! Then evil Barton goes insane! Boo! But that leaves QPR shorthanded, so now I'm REALLY cheering for them to keep it 1-1, sort of like the Spartan 300 holding off the final assault.
And they are doing it!
HOLY FUCKING FUCK! QPR scored on ManCity while playing with only 10 men!
And they've avoided relegation! Yay!
Now, I'm feeling guilty, as time runs out and ManU looks to have secured the title. I wanted some drama, so I hope...OH! ManCity scores! Well, that will make things interesting in the last two minutes. I kind of hope they score again, because that would be an AMAZING finish to the season.
But really, what hope is there that HOLY FUCKING FUCK THEY SCORED WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!?
At that point I'm losing my mind, cheering for ManCity because it's the craziest comeback I've ever seen, and the most amazing day in sports since "Game 162" from 2011.
(Though, because of the title implications for this and only wildcard for "162", this is more amazing.)
posted by grum@work at 12:29 AM on May 14, 2012
posted by Mr Bismarck at 02:00 AM on May 14, 2012
Joey Barton is still a classless fucking thug.
posted by scully at 08:06 AM on May 14, 2012
I love that reaction shot. Dr. Evil (a natural Man U fan) rubs his hands deliciously in triumph, then -- what?
There was an earlier one of the Man City crowd where a hundred people all turned at once, like a herd of deer who've spotted a lion.
Ian Darke had a great line about how the fans get the news of other games via bush telegraph.
posted by rcade at 08:27 AM on May 14, 2012
City win the title in Fergie time. Perfect.
Also, it turns out Joey Barton is an idiot. Who knew.