Three days after the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Manchester City played their 32nd match of the Premier League season.
This time, they traveled to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal.
The Gunners had been conserving energy and preparing for this fixture, while Manchester City had just come through a demanding run of games and were clearly at a disadvantage.
The match was tightly contested.
In the 89th minute, Yaya Touré struck to secure a 1-0 away win for Manchester City.
Speaking of Yaya Touré, he held a long-standing grudge against Arsenal.
His brother, Kolo Touré, was playing for Arsenal at the time and had recommended him for a trial. Yaya had dreamed of playing alongside his brother and had looked forward to that trial with high hopes.
But in the end, Wenger never took him seriously, and Yaya failed to earn a spot at Arsenal.
It was a major blow.
Now, he was settling the score on the pitch.
Arsenal are currently fighting hard for a top-four finish, and Yaya Touré's late goal was arguably the most fitting revenge.
Earlier in the day, Manchester United hosted newly promoted Queens Park Rangers.
United also won 1-0, but the difference was that Rooney converted a penalty in the 15th minute, and the Red Devils failed to add to their tally for the remainder of the match.
But the real talking point wasn't the scoreline, it was the 4-4-2 formation Ferguson used.
Ashley Young, Sneijder, Carrick, and Valencia made up United's midfield.
Lass Diarra, who had dominated headlines in recent days, wasn't even in the matchday squad.
That raised eyebrows.
After the game, the media asked Ferguson about Diarra, and the United boss said the club was handling the matter internally. He claimed the player had shown no signs of wanting to leave.
"We all know that agents want players to move every season. That's how they make their money."
"But we're confident we can keep Lass Diarra. He's a Manchester United player."
It sounded like reassurance, but the tone carried a hint of threat.
Ferguson is no pushover.
No one takes advantage of him easily.
Three days later, in the 33rd round of the Premier League, Manchester United visited Wigan Athletic.
Ferguson made some adjustments, but the midfield remained largely the same.
This time, United lost 0-1.
It was clear that their midfield lacked balance, especially defensively.
Carrick is a vastly underrated deep-lying midfielder, but expecting him to cover all the defensive duties alone is unrealistic.
Right now, United simply didn't have the depth to support the midfield.
At halftime, Ferguson made a clever switch, bringing on Clayton Wiltshire for Ashley Young to strengthen midfield control. But the young player's performance was less than convincing, and the tactical adjustment failed.
Early in the second half, Wigan scored in the 50th minute.
United couldn't find a way back and lost 0-1.
Lass Diarra was again absent from the squad.
Meanwhile, earlier that same day, Manchester City had crushed West Bromwich Albion 4-0 at home, with Suárez scoring twice and assisting twice.
The Uruguayan striker nearly completed a double hat-trick, but missed a few chances, and his teammates squandered others. Still, Suárez had an outstanding performance.
This was also thanks to adjustments made by the coaching staff.
With just five matches left in the season, Manchester City had effectively wrapped up the league title. Their dominance was overwhelming.
The remaining fixtures had become meaningless in terms of the title race.
The media was particularly harsh on Manchester United's loss.
Given the current state of the Premier League, even if United had won, City were still odds-on to clinch the title. But their defeat made City's triumph official much earlier than expected. It was a bad look.
At the post-match press conference, Ferguson congratulated Gao Shen.
"This is his third season in the Premier League, and I have to commend his great accomplishments here."
Ferguson pointed out that winning three consecutive titles in English top-flight football is an extremely rare feat.
"This has always been the most competitive league in the world."
In the entire history of England's top division, there had only been five instances of a club winning three straight titles.
The first came from 1924 to 1926, when Huddersfield became the first club to win a hat-trick of top-flight titles.
From 1894 to 1900, Aston Villa had won five titles in seven years, but never three in a row.
Clubs like Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, and Liverpool had managed two consecutive championships, but not three.
After Huddersfield, Arsenal pulled off three consecutive top-flight titles from 1933 to 1935.
Then came Liverpool's golden era in the 1970s and 80s.
From 1976 to 1990, Liverpool won ten league titles in fifteen years, including one spell of three in a row.
With the dawn of the Premier League, Ferguson's Manchester United took over.
After a couple of back-to-back titles in the 1990s, Ferguson's Class of '92 led United to their first three-peat from 1999 to 2001. After Arsenal's unbeaten season and Chelsea's two consecutive titles, United reclaimed dominance with another three consecutive titles from 2007 to 2009.
In the past century, only five teams had managed three-peat championships.
Now, Gao Shen had arrived in the Premier League and led Manchester City to the first three-peat in the club's history.
But Ferguson insisted that Manchester City's aggressive investment might not be a good thing for the Premier League.
"We all understand professional football is a business. So, naturally, we have to think long term and focus on sustainable development, not just throw money around without thinking of the consequences. That's not healthy."
Ferguson praised Manchester City's footballing achievements but criticized the club's off-field structure.
"They have Gao Shen to thank."
"It's because of his exceptional coaching that Manchester City built a grand palace on a pile of sand, laying the foundation brick by brick over three years."
"But if they want to truly establish themselves, three years is far from enough. They need to prove themselves over a longer period."
The media didn't care much for the mutual praise between Ferguson and Gao Shen. What they were really focused on was the Las Diarra situation.
After all, it was explosive.
The French midfielder had been left out of the squad for two consecutive matches.
Ferguson claimed Diarra was adjusting his condition but stressed that no player was irreplaceable at Manchester United.
"Over the years, we've let go of countless players, and Manchester United has never stopped moving forward."
"Lass has been excellent and brought stability to our midfield. But I don't see him as 'the special one.'"
Ferguson then implied that there were plenty of players like Lass Diarra in the Premier League.
One of them was Tottenham's Luka Modric, a player Ferguson had admired for a long time.
"He's a real number 10."
Ferguson also brought up another name: Morgan Schneiderlin from Leeds United in the Championship.
"Our scouting team just recommended him to me. You've probably heard of him. He's only 22, but he averages 10.2 ball recoveries per game. He's like a ball-stealing machine."
"This season, his pass success rate is 89.3%, and he averages 61.2 passes per game. Not many midfielders in the Premier League can match that. He's even better than some of the top guys."
"I don't think such a player should stay buried in the Championship, so I've asked our scouts to follow him closely."
Carrick's passing stats are comparable to Schneiderlin's, but his defensive output is much lower, with only half the ball recoveries. Diarra's defensive stats are better but still don't match up to Schneiderlin's.
And when it came to passing, Diarra didn't have much of an edge either.
Of course, Schneiderlin's numbers came from the Championship, which was a lower level of competition.
Still, Ferguson's intentions were clear. If Lass Diarra wanted to cause problems, Ferguson would freeze him out until he gave in. There were plenty of replacements.
Forget top stars like Modric, even a young Championship player like Schneiderlin was outperforming Diarra.
So, Frenchman, what exactly are you so proud of?
Ferguson's goal was to hit back at Diarra, to put pressure on the Frenchman and his agent, and force him to surrender. He used Modric and Schneiderlin as examples to squeeze Diarra.
But the media took things in a very different direction.
Who is Modric?
The whole of Europe knew Gao Shen had tried to sign him more than once.
And Schneiderlin?
A midfielder from Leeds United in the Championship.
The reason stories like the "Dark Prince" or "Cinderella" endure is because people love tales of overnight success. The British media are no different. They love creating stars.
In January 2006, Arsenal signed 17-year-old Walcott from the Championship. By May, he was in England's World Cup squad under Eriksson.
That kind of buzz was enormous.
Now, Schneiderlin wasn't quite on Walcott's level, but after Ferguson's remarks, he immediately drew the attention of the European football world.
First Bolasie, then Schneiderlin. Everyone began to realize Ferguson was taking a close look at Leeds United.
And that club had a powerful backer.
What could be more meaningful than this?
But Gao Shen was in trouble.
After watching Ferguson's interview, he was genuinely exasperated and even had the urge to call him up and yell.
"Ferguson, thank you for your big mouth!"
(To be continued.)
***
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