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'Emptiness' - Iconic Aguero goal immortalised but it still haunts Man United fans

talksport.com, 13 May 2022, 08:01
The Premier League has boasted many memorable moments since its formation in 1992, but one stands head and shoulders above the rest for both drama and repercussions.

Manchester City hold the cards over Liverpool in the title race right now and will be hoping to get the trophy secured before the final weekend of the season, after all, they know what it's like to take things to the absolute wire.

Ten years ago, Sergio Aguero scored a last-minute winner against Queens Park Rangers to rip the title from the grasp of rivals Man United.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side had held an eight-point lead over Roberto Mancini's side in the title race just five weeks before the final day of that season, and despite securing a 1-0 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium Of Light, it wasn't enough as the blue half shouted 'Aguerooooo!'

Pictures from the away end in Sunderland show shell-shocked United fans as they realised they missed out on the title, which convinced Fergie to delay his retirement for another 12 months so he could end his illustrious career on a high.

Elliott Gembler, a United supporter, says the wounds from that day are still sore.

"The worst part of that day was the feeling of being given that hope, only for it to be ripped away from under your feet.

"Football can be brutal, but that was the extreme. From pure jubilation to total agony in the space of just two minutes. It's hard to describe that feeling but it just felt like emptiness."

Jay Mottershead of the Stretford Paddock was working as a local reporter where he attended a United pub near Old Trafford for the duration of the match and recalled the moment that Aguero's goal went in.

He said: "Towards the end of the Sunderland game, United were winning and it came through that City were losing and you're thinking, could this actually happen?

"I remember they had the Sunderland game on the tele and as far as we knew it was 2-2, but if it stayed like that then United had won the league.

"Everyone was drinking and the lad next to me starting singing 'championes', and I remember thinking 'don't start all that, it's not done yet!'

"On the tele, it was done at the Stadium Of Light and they went to the Etihad and it literally turned over as Aguero went through and scored. It happened as soon as they'd switched over, and that was it."

And if you see Motteshead or any other United fan, leave out the screaming of Aguero's name in the style of Sky commentator Martin Tyler.

"It does get a bit boring; I'm not going to lie. I do get sick of hearing it and the references to it, the way it gets repeated on so many adverts, the way that Martin Tyler references it and that people always talk about it.

"It's just when you're reminded that day and how I felt that day, because it wasn't great.

"I just wish there was another iconic moment that surpassed it, just because it feels like it's the one moment that everybody refers to all the time, and it's dead annoying."

He added: "From a fans' point of view, you had to grasp that City were here with this money and were going to be a big force in English football.

"You had to say that it is working out for them. They're not just 'the noisy neighbours', they're going to be a bit more than that.

"The unfortunate thing from a United view, is that other than the following season we haven't really been involved in title races, other than a couple of second place finishes.

"When you look back, it wasn't the final step, but it was a shift away from United's dominance in the 90s and 00s to it now being a different era where they've become the most dominant team over the last years and United haven't."

Aguero went on to score a record 260 goals for City before leaving the club last summer and on the tenth anniversary of the iconic goal, the club have unveiled a statue of him outside the ground.

The sculpture depicts Aguero's shirt-waving celebration as he wheeled around the pitch to celebrate the start of a period of dominance, which has brought four more titles, an FA Cup - to go with the one collected in 2011 - and six League Cups.

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