In October 2010, it appeared that Manchester United's Wayne Rooney was prepared to do the unthinkable and sign for oil-rich Manchester City.
The England international released a statement that questioned United's ambition to challenge for the best players and biggest titles, much to the anger and disappointment of his manager, supporters and if some reports were to be believed, his teammates as well.
However, following a series of discussions with Sir Alex Ferguson, Rooney made a dramatic u-turn by signing a new five-year contract to remain with United.
An ankle injury ruled him out of the November 2010 Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium, which meant that he would not feature against the club that many had expected him to join until three years ago today when City made the short trip to Old Trafford.
Many could have been forgiven for forgetting that Rooney was on the pitch, though, as he struggled to have any impact against the commanding figure of Vincent Kompany in the City defence. That was, of course, until a moment of inspiration 12 minutes from time.
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Before that, the away side squandered a couple of openings before Nani put United in front in the 41st minute. Ryan Giggs was the creator as he lofted a pass through for the Portuguese winger, whose first touch took him away from Pablo Zabaleta. After that, he showed good composure to roll the ball beyond a diving Joe Hart.
Not happy with what he had seen during the first half, City boss Roberto Mancini soon brought on Shaun Wright-Phillips and Edin Dzeko and the pair were both involved as the scoreline was levelled up in the 65th minute. Wright-Phillips crossed for Dzeko, but his strike was going wide. Thankfully for City, the ball cannoned off David Silva and bounced into the net with Edwin van der Sar wrong footed.
From that point onwards, it was all about Rooney as he went about starting to redeem himself with the United faithful. Nani's cross was deflected towards the edge of the area off Zabaleta, which forced both the United striker and Kompany into a swift change of direction. The City defender slipped, but Rooney displayed unanticipated acrobatics to send an overhead kick flying into the top corner of the net. In celebration of his winning effort, he ran over to goad the City supporters that could quite easily have been chanting his name had the circumstances been different.
"It was an important game and to get the three points was vital. No I don't think [I've scored a better goal]. As soon as I hit it I knew that it was going in. It was definitely the best goal that I've ever scored. I thought the game was quite tight but maybe we created the best chances," Rooney told BBC Sport after the final whistle.
MAN UNITED: Van der Sar; Evra, Smalling, Vidc, O'Shea; Anderson (Berbatov), Giggs, Fletcher, Scholes (Carrick), Nani; Rooney
MAN CITY: Hart; Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Lescott; Kolarov (Wright-Phillips), Milner (Dzeko), Barry, Silva; Y Toure; Tevez
Liam Apicella
