Rooney wonderstrike lifts United to Manchester derby victory

Had we forgotten about how good he can be?  Did we forget about Wayne Rooney after his subpar World Cup and his lackluster EPL season?  Wayne Rooney put himself back on the front page with an absolutely mental bicycle kick to beat rivals Manchester City on Saturday at Old Trafford.

Manchester City had come to Old Trafford a bit more open than they were the last time these two met.  Last time City sat back and the crowd sat through a bore 0-0 draw.  Mancini played a bit more open and the game was more enjoyable.  Faced with a table that showed his team five points in arrears of their neighbours, having played a game more, this was the point of no return for City though - and Mancini went for it.

City should have been ahead inside the opening five minutes, but David Silva rolled a shot just wide.  Yaya Toure and Aleksandar Kolarov both went close as the visitors continued to press, but City could not get a clear sight of the United goal.

Having done so well, City would have been cursing at the manner in which they were opened up.  One long ball from Van der Sar, which Rooney flicked on to Giggs. A neat pass from the Welshman and Nani was in, his first touch taking him away from Pablo Zabaleta before he steadied himself, then beat Hart with clinical ease.

Manchester City emerged from the halftime break intent on finding the tying goal.  On 65 minutes they had it.  This time David Silva was more lucky than good as a Shaun Wright-Phillips ball struck him in the back and defelected into the net. The game was tied but the stage was set for Rooney.

After stringing several good passes together Nani put a cross in from the right side.  The ball was defelected off the hip off a City player changing the flight of the ball.  Rooney adjusted his run, turned and hit a bicycle kick for the ages.  Joe Hart could do nothing but stand in amazement as the ball flew past him.  Wayne Rooney sprinted to the corner and took a well deserved bow.  His wonderful strike clearly signaling Manchester United will be EPL champions this year.

"It was stunning," Sir Alex Ferguson said. "We've had some fantastic goals here but in terms of execution ... you'll never see that."