Updated at 13.20
WITH 11 GOALS, including a spectacular bicycle kick in 2011, Wayne Rooney is the top scorer in Manchester derbies.
Ahead of this afternoon’s Premier League meeting between the city rivals at Old Trafford, we take a look back a five goalscorers who may not necessarily have been the most obvious choices if you were picking potential match-winners.
Andrei Kanchelskis – Man United 5-0 Man City, 10 November 1994
It wasn’t a surprise that Russian winger Andrei Kanchelskis, who scored 36 times in four years at the club, was on target back in 1994 but the fact that he is the last player to bag a hat-trick in this fixture makes his feat extra special.
In a 5-0 drubbing, Eric Cantona slammed home the first before teeing up his team-mate for all three, which Kanchelskis — who would later join City on-loan from Rangers — admittedly had a bit of luck with. Mark Hughes, however, made no mistake with his toe-poke.
United lost out to Blackburn Rovers in the title race that season, while City avoided relegation by four points.
Shaun Goater – Man City 3-1 Man United, 9 November 2002
Man City cult hero Shaun Goater made the difference for Kevin Keegan’s men in the last derby at Maine Road. On a day of comical defending by United, Nicolas Anelka got the home side on their way.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer pulled United level before Goater capitalised on Gary Neville’s mistake to blast past Fabien Barthez.
The former Bermuda international, who famously had the line ‘Feed The Goat and he will score’ sang about him by City fans, then notched his 100th goal for the club to hand them an unlikely 3-1 win. Goater would also score later that season in a 1-1 draw.
Jon Macken – Man City 4-1 Man United, 14 March 2004
Once-capped Ireland international Macken only scored seven league goals for Man City during three years there and one of them came in a 4-1 derby win over the club he joined as a teenager.
Robbie Fowler was first off the mark, then Macken, Paul Scholes, Trevor Sinclair and Shaun Wright-Phillips all got their names on the scoresheet. It was Alex Ferguson’s third defeat to City and his worst since a 5-1 hammering in 1989. It also left the Red Devils 12 points adrift of Arsenal and they would go on to finish third in the table with Chelsea clinching the runners-up spot.
Geovanni – Man City 1-0 Man United, 19 August 2007
Under Sven-Goran Eriksson, the noisy neighbours went top of the league with a 100% record thanks to Geovanni’s deflected, long-range effort at the Etihad.
Richard Dunne and 19-year-old Micah Richards performed heroically at the heart of City’s defence, while Carlos Tevez was guilty of missing a back post header for United.
Michael Owen – Man United 4-3 Man CIty, 20 September 2009
Michael Owen’s spell at Manchester United was a largely forgettable one but he will always have this day. The goals flooded in at both ends with Wayne Rooney, Gareth Barry, Darren Fletcher and Craig Bellamy (two each) all getting in on the act.
Bellamy’s second on the stroke of 90 minutes appeared to snatch a point but Owen, on as a late substitute for Dimitar Berbatov, had other ideas.
Originally published at 07.00
