Manchester United 5 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur
Old Trafford
April 25, 2009
Playing at Old Trafford against a Manchester United side who are hungry for the title and playing under Sir Alex Ferguson was always a very tough task. Especially for Tottenham Hotspur, who’s the last victory over Manchester United had come in 2001.
That 3-1 victory was at White Hart Lane. The last time Spurs had beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford was in 1989 when Gary Lineker scored the only goal of the match. So Harry Redknapp led his team out to try and make history.
Surprisingly, Tottenham did get off to an excellent start. Darren Bent scored just before the half-hour mark. Luka Modric then shocked Old Trafford just 3 minutes later as Tottenham took a 2-0 against the league leaders in their own back yard.
United were level on points with Liverpool at the top of the table and desperately needed a win to go 3 points clear as there were just 5 games remaining in the season. Again, no time wasting by Sir Alex as he withdrew Nani and put on Carlos Tevez as United went into full attack mode.
12 minutes into the second half, United were given a lifeline as Michael Carrick was taken down in the box by Heurelho Gomes and Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up and calmly slotted home the spot kick to make it 1-2.
Following a counterattack, Wayne Rooney squared things up 10 minutes after the first goal, beating Gomes at his near post. The momentum was with United and before Old Trafford stopped celebrating the equalizer, Cristiano Ronaldo headed in the third goal in the 68th minute.
The Tottenham defence was left in chaos as Wayne Rooney scored again just 3 minutes later to make it 4-2. There was a crescendo of noise inside Old Trafford and then former Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov sealed it in the 79th minute.
United scored 4 goals in 12 minutes to turn this game on its head, go to the top of the Premier League, 3 points clear of Liverpool and eventually won the Premier League that season. This was a very astounding and crucial win for the Red Devils.
