Manchester United were stripped of the title at the end of the 2011/12 season, with raucous neighbors Manchester City scoring their first win in scenes that will never be repeated.
Djibril Cisse has hit back furiously at Wayne Rooney, claiming his Queens Park Rangers side deliberately helped Manchester City win their first Premier League title.
QPR were City’s opponents on the final day of the 2011/12 season and famously came from behind to win in stoppage time to lead Manchester United to the title.
Rooney and his team had done the job by defeating Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and were now set for a party in the north-east with City chasing down QPR into the final stages. However, Edin Dzeko’s late equalizer laid the foundation for Sergio Aguero’s late goal, perhaps the most iconic goal in Premier League history.
QPR went into the final day of the season with their top-flight status under threat, but they knew they were safe before the final whistle. This has led to skepticism, as Rooney has voiced, that the Hoops are happy to pull off a miraculous comeback for their hosts.
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United’s record scorer also questioned the fact that Cisse, who spent time at Liverpool earlier in his career, was seen “celebrating” with City players after the final whistle.
But Cissé insists Rooney’s comments were disrespectful and is trying to set the record straight. In an interview with FourFourTwo, the French striker said: “I will no longer accept this accusation. I was celebrating with Samir Nasri.”
“I didn’t celebrate with Mario Balotelli or Sergio Aguero or anyone else. I celebrated with my brother Samir, who I’ve known for 15 years.
“I was happy for my friend and I was happy that we managed to survive. I don’t care about Man City. My friend finally won the Premier League after so many years in England. I was happy for him and I was happy for him. That’s all.”
Cissé scored QPR’s opening goal in that match, but also wondered why his team fought so hard to take the lead if they were going to let City win.
He added: “What Rooney said was not cool. He took his frustration out on me. It’s not my fault.”
“If we wanted Man City to win the league, wouldn’t it have been a bit risky to wait until the last moment to let them score?
“We could have let them win 4-0 or 5-0 and go home. But we played against a strong team and the manager wanted to win that game. It wasn’t our reserve team.”
Rooney reignited the debate earlier this year when he revealed his feelings on an episode of the Overlap Fan Debate. Asked about the day, he said: “Obviously it was a tough game…but then again Paddy Kenny put the ball in and scored two goals, right? QPR knew they were safe and after City got 2-2 they just forced the ball back to themselves.
“There was Cisse on the pitch and Joey Barton was sent off for doing something stupid. Who else was there? Shaun Wright-Phillips and Nedum Onuoha were flying around.”
That afternoon still bothered Rooney, but United used it as motivation to win their 13th and final Premier League title under Sir Alex Ferguson the following season.
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