Last Monday was a glorious day for Manchester United fans everywhere. Fans didn’t have long to wait for the excitement to start after the kick-off. Robin van Persie scored the first goal in just two minutes leaving the home crowd jubilant. The away supporters – Aston Villa – must have been disappointed, but sure that they could pull the game back into their favour.
This optimism must have shrunk somewhat at the 13th minute when van Persie scored again. Reuters called this second goal “among the best ever scored at Old Trafford”. Manager Alex Ferguson agreed with this, saying: “all the great goals we’ve scored over the years, from David Beckham through Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Eric Cantona, that goal has joined that.”
For Aston Villa, who are battling relegation, ‘the fear’ must have set in somewhat by this point. In the 33rd minute van Persie scored yet another goal and ‘sealed the deal’ before the first half had even ended. Although Villa contained the team better during the second half, it just wasn’t enough. The damage was done.
This win left Manchester United soaring 16 points above Manchester City – who were last season’s Premier League champions. Wayne Rooney said that this crushing defeat was one of the motivators that drove United to glory.
Understandably, van Persie was extremely happy with his first half hat-trick. The rest of the team and United supporters everywhere shared this happiness. Indeed, many fans took to Twitter to congratulate Van Persie, sending Tweets to @RVP telling him what a good performance it was. The thing was, @RVP is not Van Persie’s Twitter name – it’s the name of an average Indian man who tried his best to quell all the excitement directed at him.
This Premier League title is the 13th for manager Alex Ferguson and the club as a whole. Sir Alex told Sky Sports 1: “I’m delighted for all the players, for myself, the staff and the supporters.” The trophy was Sir Alex’s 49th since he started his managerial career, making him the most successful manager in British football history.
As for van Persie, only time will tell if he goes down as one of the best Man Utd’s signings in Ferguson’s reign but so far things are looking positive. Last Monday night was a great night for everyone involved: Sir Alex, Van Persie, the whole United squad and, of course, all the supporters who celebrated late into the night. For City, well – there’s always next year…
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Born Offside