Manchester United have taken a measure of revenge on neighbor Manchester City by knocking the holders out of the FA Cup with a 3-2 victory.
Wayne Rooney opened against the run of play after 10 minutes. Two minutes later, City captain Vincent Kompany was controversially sent off for a two-footed tackle. Danny Welbeck added a second after half an hour, and Rooney made it 3-0 by half-time.
But Alexander Kolarov and Sergio Aguero pulled it back to 3-2 to ensure a nervy end for the visitors. They were close to tying the affair in injury time, but Man United managed to defend their tiny lead in an absolute cracker at the Etihad Stadium.
Former England midfielder Paul Scholes came out of retirement for the rest of the season and off the bench for United to help his team beat archrivals Manchester City
The 37-year-old had called time on his glittering career at the end of last May, and was coaching at Old Trafford after making his United debut in 1994. He went on to make 676 appearances, winning ten Premier League titles, the FA Cup three times and the Champions League twice.
However, the 66-cap England midfielder has now chosen to play until the end of the season for his injury-hit former club who are missing Darren Fletcher and Tom Cleverley in midfield.
Elsewhere, there was one top-flight casualty and two headline-making draws among the 26 FA Cup ties on Saturday. Among those, Birmingham and Wolves will replay after a goalless Midland derby. Danny Graham scored twice as Swansea rallied to win 4-2 at Barnsley. Aston Villa eased past Bristol Rovers, 3-1. Everton beat part-timers Tamworth, 2-0. Clint Dempsey scored a hat-trick as Fulham thrashed Charlton 4-0 in their London derby. Tony Pulis took his Stoke side to former club Gillingham, where they came back to win 3-1, while a deflected shot saw Paolo Di Canio’s Swindon fight back to knock out top-flight Wigan, 2-1.
Meanwhile, David Wheater’s late header helped Bolton snatch a replay against Macclesfield, who are 64 places below them in the league. Heidar Helguson’s last-minute equalizer, while injured QPR were down to 10 men, earned Rangers a replay with League One’s MK Dons. Jonas Gutierrez struck the stoppage-time winner as Newcastle came back to beat Blackburn, 2-1. Roman Pavlyuchenko bagged the second as Tottenham beat League Two’s Cheltenham, 3-0, while Simon Cox netted a hat-trick as West Brom held off Cardiff, 4-2.