Man Utd 2-0 Man City : Tevez tonic

First-half goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez earned Manchester United a 2-0 win against Manchester City and took them to within four points of another Premier League title.

Ronaldo produced another superb free-kick to put United in front.
But that 18th-minute strike was overshadowed by Tevez’s effort, the South American racing to the dug-outs and cupping his ears listening to the celebrations after claiming on Sunday morning that his future will be away from Old Trafford.

Tevez let fly with a long-range effort that did not really test Shay Given but brought the first `Argentina’ chant from the home supporters early on.
Elano then cannoned a shot into Ryan Giggs, referee Chris Foy waving away rather hopeful appeals for a penalty.


A couple of minutes later, Stephen Ireland was complaining when Dimitar Berbatov went down, with City really having something to moan about from Ronaldo’s free-kick. The distance of around 30 yards was small by the world player of the year’s recent standards. And he duly strode up with confidence and fired into the corner, Given wrong-footed by the merest flick off Nigel de Jong.

City had plenty of possession without managing to threaten the home goal.
Wayne Bridge curled over a shot from the left flank but Nemanja Vidic headed clear, then Robinho fired wide after shrugging Rafael Da Silva off the ball. Play quickly switched to the other end where a piece of impudence from Patrice Evra offered Tevez the chance to run into space and curl a shot towards the City goal which came crashing back off the angle of post and crossbar.

A minute from the break, Fletcher’s long ball was neatly controlled by Berbatov. His square pass found Tevez, whose precision shot bounced in off the post.
City needed a break and it should have arrived when Elano picked out Robinho with a deft right-wing cross. The £32.5million striker had again got ahead of Rafael and seemed destined to test Edwin van der Sar, only to inexplicably fire well wide.

Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney were introduced for Ji-Sung Park and Ronaldo on the hour. Ronaldo did not look too impressed at the decision and was still shaking his head long after he had taken his place in the home dug-out. The exit of Robinho in the final minute came immediately after Richard Dunne had made a last-ditch tackle to deny Scholes. Darren Fletcher rose to meet the corner, only for Tevez to strike the post with his header as he dived in and made contact less than half a yard out.

Source: www.soccernet.com