Manchester City 3 QPR 2
Published: 22 minutes ago
MANCHESTER CITY won the greatest Premier League title race in history — and they did it in Fergie time.
City scored twice in the final two minutes ofADDED TIME to beat QPR and lift their first title since 1968.
It left boss Roberto Mancini dazed and rival Alex Ferguson devastated as his United side were set for their 20th league crown when the final whistle blew on their 1-0 win at Sunderland.
Mancini said: “After this I feel 90 years old. It’s incredible, you cannot think of a final game like this — that would be impossible.
“It was a crazy end to a crazy season. I think it’s incredible for me and all our supporters. I’m very happy for them, the season is for them — all our supporters.
“When we were losing it was a terrible feeling, then in a moment it was simply incredible.
“I have never experienced anything like this in my whole career.”
Fergie said: “We knew five minutes of extra time was being played at City. Our game had three minutes of stoppage time.
“You don’t know what can happen in the extra two minutes but they got that break and won the game.
“It is a cruel way to have the title ripped away but I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my 25 years here.”
But Mancini insisted the title triumph was fully deserved for his side’s efforts throughout the season.
The Italian said: “We deserved this and I am very proud of my players. They fought to the end because they all wanted this title so much.
“I think for us it was really important to win this championship, now Manchester City can have a big future. We have changed the history of this football club.”
Sergio Aguero grabbed the incredible winner in the 94th minute and burst into tears as he was engulfed by his team-mates.
Aguero said: “I thought Mario Balotelli was going to have a go himself but he just moved it on one more and it fell at my feet.
“My only thought was to hit the target and it went in.
“For sure it was the most important goal of my career. You score a goal in the last minute to win the title — I’m not sure that is ever going to happen again.
"QPR were fighting for their lives. They sat back and and we knew they would make things difficult for us on the counter-attack.
“During the invasion, loads of fans came over. They grabbed me and kissed me. But the only thing I understood was ‘I love you’. That made me so happy.
“Since I arrived at City, everyone has treated me really well. I repaid them with a goal to win the title and make history.
“I’ll keep doing my best every day to win more titles. All I do is play football so the fans can enjoy themselves.”
The team will now have a triumphant open-top bus tour of the City starting at 6pm tonight from the town hall.
Balotelli roared: “We are the best and that’s why we won.
“We didn’t play very well in a few games but for the rest of the season we played very well, so we deserved to win.
“Personally I think too many people talked and too many people said bad things about me. Now they have just to shut up.
“Manchester City is a great club, a great team, I have great team-mates. I don’t see my future far from here so I think I want to be here.”
Samir Nasri, a £24million summer signing from Arsenal, was thrilled to taste league success in his first season at the Etihad.
The French playmaker said: “It’s the first time in my life I’ve won something like this. It’s amazing and I’m really happy.
"I knew I made the right decision coming here and tonight I want to celebrate with all our fans, my family and my friends.”
Pablo Zabaleta, who netted City’s opener, said: “I thought when we were losing 2-1, ‘we’ll score one goal and we’re still going to lose the title’.
“I don’t want to wake up from this. You just look at the players and the fans, everybody deserves this.
“The most important thing for any team is when you believe. If you believe in yourself you win. We believed until the last minute.”
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