It was an incredible season finale, full of mixed emotions as City turned into the new Champion and fooled the Red Devils that believed for a second they had conquered the title.
On Sunday, May 13, the last ten fixtures were played simultaneously and as some were just looking for a couple of points more and maybe even try to finish in a higher position, others were having a life or death encounter; for the championship title and the third relegation spot were still undefined. QPR and Bolton were struggling to stay out of relegation, whereas the two clubs from Manchester were tied at the top of the standings with 86 points -both with chances to conquer the title; however the Sky Blues had an advantage of 8 goals on the Goals Difference. At Manchester were the Citizens hosting Queens Park Rangers, while the 2nd placed, United, went north to visit the Black Cats.
So, the only way that the Red Devils could take the lead was if City got defeated while they were winning at the Stadium of Light. Therefore when Sir Alex Ferguson and his men finished victorious -thanks to Wayne Rooney's 20th-minute-goal- and aware of the disadvantage their neighbors had in that moment, they were about to start celebrating. In fact, United carried for almost an hour the first position and with it the glory of the 20th title. However soon enough -enough to stop Fergie's embarrassment of celebrating ahead of time- you could see fans all over the crowd in the stadium on their cell phones with disappointment and surprised expressions on their faces what just had happened in Manchester.
The Sky Blues' opened the scoreboard during first half with Zabaleta's goal. But at the return from the interval QPR needed to take the lead, since Bolton was winning at Britannia Stadium, which was placing the southern club on the 18th position of the standings -in relegation zone. Therefore early in second half the Rangers struck back and placed two marks, which left them out of danger; but left City in an unsafe situation. Nevertheless it was the Citizens' fate to achieve the title for his supporters, and following a couple of changes on the light blue alignment they were able to take the lead with two unbelievable goals during the injury time; the first one at 90+2 by Edin Dzeko and the second was settled in less than two minutes by Sergio Aguero.
In the end it didn't matter to the Rangers that much that they were defeated because Bolton was tied by Stoke City at 77', when Adam Bogdan unfairly challenged Peter Crouch and through the penalty shot Jonathan Walters settled the 2-2. Resulting from that draw, which by the way was the only one from the 38th round, the Trotters have joined the Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton, to complete the relegated trio. Meanwhile, since Chelsea has qualified to the UEFA Champions League final and therefore has earned a ticket to the next season also, Tottenham has lost the chance to participate in the 2012-13 Champions, even though it finished in 4th place. This is because UEFA only allows four clubs from the Premier League in the Champions; even so the Spurs will go to the 2012-13 UEFA Europa League.
Regarding to the annual tributes from the Barclays Premier League, two of the new champions, a Gunner and the Magpies coach were honored. First, the award for 'Barclays Player of the Season' was presented to Vincent Kompany and for his 17 blank sheets Joe Hart received the Barclays Golden Glove. But the biggest award winner was the top scorer of the season (30 goals), Robin Van Persie, the Dutchman not only received the Barclays Golden Boot, but also the awards for PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year for his performance along Arsenal.
All the results from Round 38: Chelsea 2-1 Blackburn; Everton 3-1 Newcastle; Manchester City 3-2 QPR; Norwich 2-0 Aston Villa; Stoke City 2-2 Bolton; Sunderland 0-1 Manchester United; Swansea 1-0 Liverpool; Tottenham 2-0 Fulham; West Brom 2-3 Arsenal; Wigan 3-2 Wolves.
Camilla Mancini is one of the most qualified copy writers on Sports News and currently writes for Instant Action Sports. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave any links in place and do not modify any of the content.
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