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The teamsheet from Manchester City’s 6-1 derby day demolition in October 2011 hangs framed on the wall of Yaya Toure’s home in Ivory Coast. Of his eight seasons at the Etihad it is that match which stands above others as the knockout blow in the battle for local bragging rights, when momentum shifted red to blue.
Yet asked for the moment when he detected United’s legs first began to weaken, the powerhouse midfielder has no hesitation.
It was the 1-0 win in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley in April before, his gfoal delivering the moment when he City and Sir Alex Ferguson felt the ground under their feet shift.
There had been signs. Two years earlier Fergie fumed about the grab of Carlos Tevez and that poster, but Toure insists it was that game which made it clear the “noisy neighbours” were not going to turn the volume down.
“I think we celebrated that win more then that actually winning the final,” said Toure. “Even on the train back we were still celebrating. It was a mark of the change that was happening. There was a big celebration – not only the players. The executives were on the train with us, they came into the dressing room to share our happiness.
“They were feeling like: ‘This is it now, change is coming now at Man City’. The fans realised it as well. Everyone around the city started to realise it. “After that game all those things changed. We started to get more respect. People started to believe in the project of Manchester City. It was huge.”
If Tevez’s switch and the Wembley win had been wind-shifts, change was made tangible with the thumping 6-1 at Old Trafford, rich irony that the goal difference helped City to a first Premier League title at United’s expense seven months later.
“Tevez was one of the biggest players and to take him from a big rival and bring him to you, you can maybe understand why Ferguson was frustrated and p*****. To see one of their talisman go to their rival like that is something – you could see something was changing.
“When a manager starts to talk about someone or other clubs it means he’s scared – he feels something going on there that is important.
“But I think the 6-1 hurt United fans the most. That was impressive from us. After the FA Cup, we believed we could beat them even at Old Trafford with Ferguson.
“It was like a slap in the face of United fans, even players in front of Ferguson. I remember watching highlights of the game and you could see the camera on Ferguson’s face and it was red.
“He didn’t say anything. You could see it in his eyes. We played much better than we did in the FA Cup. We won that game 1-0 but were dominated in the first half.
“But at Old Trafford the 6-1 was different. It was in their stadium, against the best manager in the world who had made their team great and we battered them 6-1. What’s better than that?”
The obvious answer? Staying in the hunt to relegate their most cherished achievement – the 1999 treble – to shared status in the first all Manchester FA Cup Final might come close.
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