A RECORD-BREAKING SUNDAY OF FOOTBALL ACTION

Rio picked up an injury when an object was thrown by an irate City fan. Hart and Tevez prevented a scene with another.

It was indeed a Super Sunday yesterday in the world of football. A day of fantastic football results and record-breaking achievements. In the English Premier League, the most anticipated derby between the Blue and Red sides of Manchester proved, as always, most thrilling and entertaining.



English champions, Manchester City welcomed their visiting neighbours and fiercest rivals in the league campaign with utmost confidence after not having lost a match at the Etihad Stadium in 37 home league games which started on 20th December, 2010 after a 2-1 defeat to Everton.  

Goal scorers, Rooney and van Persie with Young

Wayne Rooney was the star of the match as he put the visitors in front with two clinical finishes, leaving the home side stupefied. His brace yesterday was his 150th League goal as well as a record breaker for the most goals ever scored in a Manchester derby. He broke Sir Bobby Charlton's previous record of 9 goals by scoring the 9th and 10th goals respectively.

City rallied in the second half and brought themselves back in the game courtesy goals by Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta but it was Robin Van Persie once again, who won the day for the visitors. His superb injury-time free kick ensured that Manchester United went home with three points, truncating City's 37 unbeaten home run. The 29 year old forward has been in superb form since moving to Manchester United in August this year, scoring an impressive 16 goals in 23 appearances so far.

In Spain, it was once again, all about Lionel Messi as the Argentine forward bounced back from a minor to injury to catch up with and surpass Gerd Muller's goal scoring record in a calender year when he scored two fantastic goals in La Liga fixture when Real Betis hosted Barcelona.

Lionel Messi: The 25 year old Argentine/Barcelona forward is now officially the greatest goal scorer in the game of football

Muller found the net 85 times for Bayern Munich and West Germany in just 60 matches in 1972, while the Brazilian icon, Pele, had previously sat in second place for most goals in a single year with his haul of 75 in 1958, before Messi effortlessly breezed past that figure last month.

Messi's awe-inspiring haul of 86 goals in 2012 now officially makes him the greatest goal scorer of all time in the game of football. What a legend! 


Joke of the day: Messi has scored 23 goals in La Liga this season while Real Betis as a team has scored just 24. #Amazing!


Malcolm O. Ifi.

Follow on twitter @saymalcolm 

Photo Credits: The Internet