Former Gunner Samir Nasri was the villain — and Manchester City
keeper Costel Pantilimon the hero.
Nasri was jeered every time he touched the ball while back-up
Pantilimon produced two breathtaking saves in a fierce opening
exchange that should have seen Arsenal go ahead.
And the last laugh in this Carling Cup quarter-final went to
Sergio Aguero, who mugged the Gunners with a sensational winner for
City seven minutes from time to give the blue half of Manchester
their first victory at Arsenal for 36 YEARS.
Romanian stopper Pantilimon kept City in it and Aguero shoved
Arsenal out of it.
The home side were unable to find the killer touch in front of
goal despite their dominance.
It was clear Arsenal fans thought it was the colour of money
that took Nasri away from the Emirates, not the colour of his
shirt. And they let him know what they thought of his
'treachery'.
They sang "You only went for the money" and chants of "Stand up
if you hate Nasri" echoed off the terraces.
And whenever Nasri touched the ball, he got the bird.
The money? Well, that works out at around £180,000 a week for
the Frenchman.
The fee? That was a whopping £24million, a pittance for
mega-spending City but a transfer deal that works out at only a few
quid less than the entire cost of the side Arsene Wenger put
out.
The difference? Hardly any... except where it mattered most. In
front of goal where Aguero showed his undoubted class.
There seemed little danger when Arsenal lost the ball on the
edge of City's area and the visitors launched what looked like a
half-hearted break on 83 minutes.
Edin Dzeko picked up the ball and increased the pace of the
attack with a slide-rule pass that found Adam Johnson bursting
through.
The England winger wrong-footed the Gunners defence with a
clever flicked pass and Aguero finished magnificently.
Sure, it was tough on the Gunners, who went for City's throat
but ended up cutting their own when they were caught by a classic
counter-attack.
But it had been so different in the first half as Arsenal went
desperately close to going ahead when Francis Coquelin floated over
a teasing 12th-minute cross that picked out Chu-Young Park at the
far post. The South Korean met the cross with a first-time shot but
was left banging the ground in frustration as Pantilimon somehow
turned a corkscrew in the air and palmed the ball away.
Stefan Savic mopped up the mess at the far post with a cool
clearance that steadied City's nerves.
That a goal never came in the first half was down to
Pantilimon.
He bettered his earlier save when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
slammed in a dipping 25th-minute drive that had goal written all
over it until the Romanian fisted the ball away.
The Gunners, a collection of first-team wannabes and future
hopes, took the game to City.
And such was their progress with Oxlade-Chamberlain dominating
down the right that City boss Roberto Mancini hauled off Aleksandar
Kolarov and threw on Aguero with just 32 minutes on the clock.
Dzeko went close for City with a cheeky 57th-minute backheel
from a surprise cross by Nigel de Jong.
It had been 28 games over those 36 long years since City last
won at Arsenal and they rode their luck as they ended that
record.
Arsenal were beaten finalists back in February and have been to
the semi-finals five times in nine seasons.
But the late winner from Aguero is one of the biggest lessons
these young Gunns will learn.
DREAM TEAM
STAR MAN - COSTEL PANTILIMON (Man City)
ARSENAL: Fabianski 7, Djourou 7, Koscielny 7,
Squillaci 6, Miquel 6 (Vermaelen 5), Oxlade-Chamberlain 7 (Arshavin
5), Coquelin 7, Frimpong 6, Benayoun 7, Park 5 (Gervinho 5),
Chamakh 5. Subs not used: Mannone, Eastmond,
Ozyakup, Yennaris.
MAN CITY: Pantilimon 8, Zabaleta 7, K Toure 7,
Onuoha 7, Savic 7, Hargreaves 7 (Razak 5), De Jong 7, Johnson 7,
Nasri 6, Kolarov 5 (Aguero 7), Dzeko 7. Subs not
used: Taylor, Richards, Bridge, Suarez, Rekik.
Booked: Hargreaves.
