This Day in Sports History: Manchester City Wins EPL Title After Wild Finish on Final Day
Perhaps the wildest moment in English soccer history unfolded on the final day of the 2011-12 season.
The last day of that campaign was set up to deliver a classic finish. Manchester City and Manchester United each sat atop the league table with 86 points apiece, and City held an insurmountable goal differential advantage. What transpired in the final few minutes of matchday 38 will live on in English soccer lore, culminating in a stoppage-time goal from City's Sergio Aguero to clinch the club's first English league title since 1968.
In an away match against Sunderland, Wayne Rooney scored in the 20th minute to give United—the defending champions—a 1-0 lead. That would cap the scoring at the Stadium of Light, putting United at 89 points for the season. Playing at home simultaneously against bottom-dwellers Queens Park Rangers, City had no margin for error.
The Citizens saw a 1-0 halftime lead quickly turn into a 2-1 deficit in the second half. When officials added five minutes of stoppage time, City's title chances were on life support. Edin Džeko equalized on a header off a corner in the 92nd minute, but a draw wouldn't be enough.
"The equalizer, it was so strange. At that point it was already into injury time, and people were almost annoyed," Etihad Stadium pregame host Danny Jackson said in SI's oral history of the match from 2017. "It’s the hope that kills you. By that I mean: To be that close to winning something, it’s even more frustrating. You’d rather get beat 3–0 than know one more goal would’ve taken us to the title. Nobody really celebrated Džeko’s goal."
(Read: Once in a Blue Moon: An Oral History of the Premier League's Most Dramatic Day Ever)
City fans wouldn't have to wait long for the real celebration to begin. After winning possession on a QPR throw-in, City pushed the ball up quickly in a counterattack. Aguero received the ball outside the penalty box, delivered a pass to Mario Balotelli at the top of the box, then cut toward the right post. Balotelli's return pass hit him in stride. With one touch to the outside, Aguero fired a rocket that beat the keeper to the near post, finding the back of the net and sending Etihad Stadium into a frenzy.
"Everything becomes blurry," City defender and captain Vincent Kompany said in SI's oral history. "I remember we all piled up. People were shouting and crying; you couldn’t see them, but they were there, below. It was madness, something that’s hard to describe. You can’t experience that more than once in your life."
Shortly after calling the moment for ESPN, play-by-play broadcaster Ian Darke said of City's victory, "It might just be the start of a dynasty." His words would prove to be prophetic: City's 2011-12 championship marked their first of four Premier League titles won in an eight-year span. In that time, they've also added an FA Cup title and five League Cup trophies.
The decade of the 2010s brought a wave of unprecedented success to the club once perpetually derided as "little brothers" of Manchester United. Since May 13, 2012, there have been many good days to be a Manchester City fan. But none will likely ever top the day when City snatched victory from certain defeat and robbed Manchester United in the most astounding way possible.
