Source: Telegraph
Manchester United v Manchester City: live
Email Jonathan Liew with your thoughts on tonight's action (and try to be more polite than Gary Neville...) [LNB][LNB] Related ArticlesMan Utd v Man City: match previewGiggs: winning trophy better than beating CityWhat won't happen tonightMancini: Manchester must not look back in angerSport on televisionManchester derby day causing sleepless nights in Dallas86 mins Tevez is seizing this game by its quivering lapels. His clever ball finds the tireless Bellamy, who crosses for Adebayor in hectares of space, but the ball is a little behind him and the header ebbs wide.[LNB]85 mins Fletcher from long range, but it's well over. Still United lead 2-1 on the night, still 3-3 on aggregate. Five minutes left. [LNB]84 mins Bit of a lull as Old Trafford regathers its collective breath. [LNB]80 mins Carrick again, almost! Giggs slips it in, it's cleared by Kompany and Carrick has two chances to get a shot away. The first is blocked, the second leaks painfully wide of goal. [LNB]78 mins How costly does that Rooney miss look now? If it stays like this, we are going to extra-time. If it stays like that, penalties. [LNB]76 mins Out of less than nothing, City are level on aggregate! Bellamy crosses from the left, more out of hope than expectation. Ferdinand reckons he's got it covered, but Tevez sticks out a flailing heel and flicks it beyond Van der Sar from 14 yards. Astonishing athleticism from the Argentine, and anybody who thought this was done and dusted, as well as anyone who thought Tevez might have a quiet night, is probably feeling like both a moron and a boot-licker right now. [LNB]75 mins GOAL Man Utd 2-1 Man City (Tevez) Would you believe it? [LNB]74 mins Sir Alex brings on Wes Brown to replace Rafael. [LNB]73 mins That should have been it! Giggs puts it through for Evra, who crosses to an unmarked Rooney from six yards. Inexplicably, unexpectedly, bafflingly - he misses. United all over City like a poncho here. [LNB]72 mins Adebayor comes on for City, his first game since December 16, with City 3-2 down an aggregate and with just 18 minutes to find a goal. [LNB]70 mins GOAL Man Utd 2-0 Man City (Carrick) Could that be the decisive strike? Fletcher bursts through the city back line and lays it off for Michael Carrick, whose shot from an angle threads through about three pairs of legs and in. [LNB]68 mins Fisticuffs here as Fletcher and Richards tangle on the touchline. Richards fell headlong over Fletcher's sprawling challenge and the two square up to each other in a most unseemly fashion. Howard Webb breaks the pair up and keeps his card in his pocket. [LNB]67 mins It's 2-2 on aggregate, so as it stands, we would still go into extra-time as away goals don't kick in until after 120 minutes. [LNB]65 mins Tevez has barely touched the ball all half, but he's standing over a free-kick here. From it, Richards's shot is deflected over for a corner. [LNB]63 mins And indeed, change has come to Manchester City. Ireland on for Garrido. [LNB]62 mins Still 1-0 to United and Mancini will be thinking about changes. He's got Adebayor and Ireland to come off the bench, while United have Berbatov, Vidic and a certain Michael Owen. [LNB]61 mins Another chance for United. Nani slides the ball across, and Boyata scrapes it away with Wayne Rooney breathing hungrily down his neck. [LNB]58 mins Bellamy has City's best chance of the half, cutting in from the inside, but his shot balloons into Row Z (which, at Old Trafford, is still only about a quarter of the way back). [LNB]56 mins Pressure right on City. Shot from Scholes, another from Giggs, both blocked. [LNB]54 mins It was a glorious ball from Rooney that started the move, and Man City are rocking now. Rooney almost gets on the end of a Giggs cross. United are so dangerous when they're in this mood. Roberto Mancini blows his nose indignantly on the touchline. [LNB]51 mins GOAL Man Utd 1-0 Man City (Scholes) There it is! Deadlock broken! Giggs takes the ball forward, draws Given off his line and slips it back for Nani, who runs into traffic. Carrick knocks it back to Scholes, whose right-foot shot from the edge of the area sneaks past Given into the corner. United lead on aggregate and the roar that goes round Old Trafford is almost feral. [LNB]49 mins Uh-oh. Bellamy goes to take a corner, and he's hit in the back of the head with a bottle. He seems to be OK, but United are going to get the book thrown at them for that... [LNB]47 mins Richards robs Rooney and strides towards the United area. Short of options, he goes for goal left-footed, and it's a corker. Van der Sar arches his back and tips it over at full-stretch. [LNB]46 mins No changes from either side at half-time. [LNB]21.03: United's players are out on the pitch already. City make them wait, but here they are. Let the games begin, again. [LNB]20.55: A quick update on the night's other football: Chelsea appear on course to knock United off the top of the Premier League. They're 2-0 up at home to Birmingham. Aston Villa and Arsenal are goalless. Blackburn are one-up at home to Wigan, Everton two-up at home to Sunderland. [LNB]And file this one under 'It Never Rains But...': Crystal Palace, now officially broke, only named three substitutes for their game against Newcastle at St James's Park - and had to use one of them after four minutes. [LNB]20.53: Here's a stat for you. Ryan Giggs, Her Majesty's Sports Personality Of The Year, has appeared in one fifth of all the Manchester derbies that have taken place. Ever. In history. The first one was in 1891, but Giggs missed that with a groin strain. Somewhere in a darkened attic, there is a picture of Ryan Giggs getting gradually older. [LNB]45+1 mins And there it is. City are defending in true catenaccio fashion, two to a man, and haven't been seriously troubled. Ferguson will have to do something to take control of this tie. [LNB]45 mins There's going to be one minute of added time. [LNB]41 mins Rooney dinks it out to Nani, whose first-time centre is desperately hooked away by Boyata, who's had a good game so far. [LNB]38 mins City will be the happier of the two teams at this stage. United desperately wanted an early strike to get the momentum going their way. City have withstood the Red storm and created some nice chances of their own. [LNB]37 mins United free-kick from the left. It's sent in by Nani, and it's a good one too. Richards has to leap like a salmon to head it away. [LNB]34 mins I'm going to stick my neck out here (which, you will note, is more than Roberto Mancini's done since he's arrived at Eastlands) and assert that the first team to score tonight will go through. As enterprising clairvoyance goes, it's hardly the exact date of the apocalypse, but there you are. Scholes realises he's gone half an hour without being booked and lunges at Wright-Phillips. Interesting if false fact: if you collected every yellow card Scholes has received, you could cover an entire wall of his house. [LNB]31 mins A nice ball from Carrick finds Giggs, whose shot is sweetly-struck, but saved by Shay Given. [LNB]28 mins No clear-cut chances as yet, but this game is bubbling up nicely. Bellamy again finds some space down the left and Tevez's diving header is pushed away by Van der Sar. That's the best opportunity so far. [LNB]25 mins First flashpoint. Rooney clips Zabaleta's heels off the ball, and Zabaleta goes down like he's been strafed from the Stretford End. Blue shirts surround Rooney and Howard Webb. Just a word to both players from the referee. [LNB]23 mins Tevez is, predictably, getting loud boos, but the United defence are scared stiff of him. Their hesitation allows him to dance into the penalty area, where only the combined presence of Ferdinand and Van der Sar deny him a shooting opportunity. [LNB]21 mins Shaun Wright-Phillips squirms past Evra like a cat through a garden gate. He crosses, and Bellamy manages to get decent contact on the header but it's easy for Van der Sar to catch. [LNB]20 mins Ferdinand was a lucky boy there. He's already facing one charge of violent conduct. If you get three, don't you go to jail or something? [LNB]19 mins Skyscraper from Garrido. Tevez hares down the right in pursuit. And that's an arm from Ferdinand! Straight into the Tevez mug. The home fans howl their scorn as Howard Webb tells the Argentine to get up. [LNB]17 mins Already United have their fifth corner of the game, but none of them have come close to producing a chance. Now here's a sixth. Nani swings it in. Ferdinand with a back flick! It goes wide. Wouldn't that have been a moment? [LNB]14 mins I thought I'd see how long I could go without mentioning the man Tevez. He's got the ball here in the United area, but can't get a cross in. [LNB]11 mins City were actually 2-0 down in that match with a minute left. Such fine margins. We could have been sitting here tonight watching United taking on an Arab-owned, expensively-assembled Gillingham instead. Scholes drives a long-range shot over the bar. [LNB]9 mins The 'gutter press' would have you believe that this would be City's first Wembley final since 1981. In fact, as recently as 1999 they not only went to Wembley but actually won some silverware, picking up the prestigious Division Two Play-Off Trophy after beating Gillingham 3-1 on penalties. I say prestigious. They probably use the trophy to hold Wine Gums now. [LNB]8 mins Rooney effortlessly brings down a long ball and takes a swing from 20 yards, but it's straight at Shay Given. They're really going at it early on, are United. [LNB]5 mins Wright-Phillips wriggles past Scholes, who reacts as Scholes tends to do. Free-kick to City. Barry delivers, but that's easy for Van der Sar. United look instantly more secure at the back with the Dutchman between the sticks. [LNB]3 mins Scholes sprays a beautiful ball out left for Evra. Richards knocks it behind for a United corner. Nani produces a stinker. [LNB]2 mins Craig Bellamy, a man who perpetually looks as though he's on day release, strides down the left. He wins a corner, but it's cleared by United. [LNB]20.01: Howard Webb checks his watch. United to kick us off. And we're under way. [LNB]19.58: The teams are out. We are about to witness a 21st-century sporting monolith. Or, at the very least, the never unwelcome sight of misplaced journalistic hyperbole. [LNB]19.53: If you've got any thoughts on the game or, to be honest, anything unrelated to the Apple Tablet, why not drop us an e-mail using the link above? [LNB]19.50: Manchester City have, though, won at Old Trafford less than two years ago. Goals from Vassell and Benjani gave them a 2-1 victory in February 2008. Believe it or not, only Micah Richards out of tonight's starting XI survives from that game. City's manager that day was Sven-Goran Eriksson, and look where he ended up. [LNB]19.46: The last time these two teams met here, City played some magnificent attacking football to come away with three goals. Unfortunately for them, United got four. That result, though, would take them through tonight... [LNB]Man Utd: Van der Sar, Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes, Carrick, Nani, Rooney, Giggs. Subs: Kuszczak, Brown, Owen, Berbatov, Park, Vidic, Valencia. [LNB]Man City: Given, Richards, Kompany, Boyata, Garrido, De Jong, Barry, Zabaleta, Wright-Phillips, Tevez, Bellamy. Subs: Taylor, Onuoha, Ireland, Sylvinho, Petrov, Adebayor, Ibrahim. [LNB]19.42: We've got the team news. Rio Ferdinand starts while the club appeals his charge for violent conduct. What happens, by the way, if he gets another charge tonight? Rafael also starts for United. Boyata keeps his place for Manchester City, while Emmanuel Adebayor is on the bench. [LNB]19.39: If you thought last week's game gave us fireworks, tonight promises two-ton cluster bombs and a pre-emptive missile strike. United, of course, trail 2-1 from the first leg at Eastlands. In the interim we've had arrests, recriminations, bucketfuls of hype and some of the strangest insults ever committed to tape. [LNB]19.30: Tuesday night. Manchester United. Manchester City. Old Trafford. Fetch the popcorn. [LNB]Read the full match preview here... [LNB]
