Yaya Toure effectively signalled the changing of the guard in Manchester with his 2011 FA Cup semi-final winner for City against United.
Comments
Sport
Toure and Vidic vie for the ball in the November 2010 derby
Toure and Vidic vie for the ball in the November 2010 derby
Yaya Toure says Manchester City adopted United's "unplayable" mentality to spark their period of dominance in English football.
City had gone 35 years without a major trophy until Toure scored the winning goal in the 2011 FA Cup final against Stoke City to confirm their status as challengers to United, who won an unprecedented 19th English title on the same day.
Toure slotted in the winner against United in the semi-final and he was instrumental in City's first title triumph in 44 years the following season.
The former Barcelona midfielder joined City in 2010 and the club have won eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups, six League Cups, the Champions League and the Club World Cup in the past 14 years.
Toure came up against United in the 2008 Champions League semi-finals and 2009 final with Barcelona and he admitted to ex-United defender Rio Ferdinand that City drew inspiration from their rivals.
"You guys, United, were unplayable," Toure said. "To be honest, in terms of achievement. We see United start slowly but we knew you guys, you could make 10 games in a row unbeaten.
"But we had some periods where, if we lost it, we could lose in a row, and getting that back again would be difficult. That was the mentality because that's the pressure you put on us.
"And as well, we put it, Man United, sometimes, some part of the dressing room saying like, 'That's the mentality those guys have.' We used that, you know what I mean?
"Because in Barcelona as well, we got that, but on the matter of playing good football. Because Barcelona is not just about winning - it’s winning with style.
"For Man City, we had to win, but not with style. We had to win.
"And after that, I had to have the teammates around, like Vieira, Kolo, who were winning or used to winning as well."
Carlos Tevez moved to City after his two-year loan with United ended in 2009.
Tevez won two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the League Cup and the Club World Cup in only two campaigns with United and even Toure, a member of Barcelona's treble-winning squad in 2008-09, took on board some of Tevez's pointers.
"Tevez was already there," Toure recalled. "Of course, in training, he was not the best. But he was the one with the mentality.
"He was always saying that, 'Guys, when I was with Man United, the players like Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, all that. Well, that's what they do.'"