Sunday, May 10 2009,
Sir Alex Ferguson's team set a new standard in the Manchester derby, not because of the ease with which United brushed City aside, but because it was the first time in the club's 131-year history that the starting line-up did not contain a single Englishman.
With regular first-teamers Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand all rested it was left to Edwin Van der Sar (Holland); Patrice Evra (France), Johnny Evans (N.Ireland), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia), Rafael (Brazil); Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Ryan Giggs (Wales), Darren Fletcher (Scotland), Park Ji-Sung (S.Korea); Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria) and Carlos Tevez (Argentina) to keep United's title push on track.
But United fans need not worry about the international make-up of the squad just yet as it would be equally possible for Ferguson to field an entire team of Englishman. A starting XI of Ben Foster; Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Richard Eckersley; Owen Hargreaves, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Lee Martin; Wayne Rooney and Danny Wellbeck would be more than match for most teams in the Premier League.
Gianluca Vialli's Chelsea were the first English team to start a match without a single Englishman on the pitch, on Boxing Day 1999. In February 2005, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal went one better and named a 16-man match day squad devoid of any Englishmen.
Sir Alex Ferguson's team set a new standard in the Manchester derby, not because of the ease with which United brushed City aside, but because it was the first time in the club's 131-year history that the starting line-up did not contain a single Englishman.
With regular first-teamers Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand all rested it was left to Edwin Van der Sar (Holland); Patrice Evra (France), Johnny Evans (N.Ireland), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia), Rafael (Brazil); Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Ryan Giggs (Wales), Darren Fletcher (Scotland), Park Ji-Sung (S.Korea); Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria) and Carlos Tevez (Argentina) to keep United's title push on track.
But United fans need not worry about the international make-up of the squad just yet as it would be equally possible for Ferguson to field an entire team of Englishman. A starting XI of Ben Foster; Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Richard Eckersley; Owen Hargreaves, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Lee Martin; Wayne Rooney and Danny Wellbeck would be more than match for most teams in the Premier League.
Gianluca Vialli's Chelsea were the first English team to start a match without a single Englishman on the pitch, on Boxing Day 1999. In February 2005, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal went one better and named a 16-man match day squad devoid of any Englishmen.
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