© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday in the English Premier League, eight games of the penultimate 37th round were played. In the Manchester derby, "Man Utd" celebrated a narrow victory over "Man City", which brought them closer to the title, "West Ham" defeated "Bolton", "Newcastle" lost to "Blackburn", "Liverpool" suffered their second consecutive defeat, and victories were also achieved by "Everton", "Watford", "Middlesbrough", and "Aston Villa".
In the central match of the round, the Manchester derby saw the 13th-placed "Man City" taking on the league leaders "Man Utd". The match started cautiously, with occasional shots from both teams. In the 9th minute, after a pass from Ryan Giggs from the right flank in the penalty area, Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic rose highest but his header hit the crossbar.
Six minutes later, the hosts responded with a dangerous attack. Following a lifted corner kick, the "Man Utd" defenders failed to fully neutralize the danger, and Belgian Emile Mpenza almost took advantage of it, but his powerful shot was saved by Edwin van der Sar. In the 22nd minute, the visitors were once again close to scoring, as Cristiano Ronaldo flicked the ball to Rio Ferdinand from a Giggs corner kick, but his header also hit the crossbar.
In the 34th minute, the first goal of the match fell. Cristiano Ronaldo deceived Michael Ball in the penalty area, forcing the referee to award a penalty kick. The young Portuguese stepped up to take the kick himself and with a precise shot, he put the ball past Andreas Isaksson, sending "the Red Devils" ahead.
At the start of the second half, "Man Utd" midfielder Paul Scholes attempted a long-range shot to beat the "Man City" goalkeeper from Sweden, but the latter protected his goal reliably. For a long time, both teams did not create dangerous attacks. Only in the 63rd minute, after a corner kick from Sun Jihai, E. Mpenza scored with a header over the goal.
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