Manchester City champions!

Manchester City……(1) 3

QPR………………..(0) 2

Goaal! Pablo Zabaleta opens the scoring

The English Premier League proved once again why it is the most popular league in the world, producing a dramatic last-day finish for the ages. It was a script that couldn’t be written, even in Bollywood… and at the end of it all the Etihad Stadium was a place of uncontrolled celebration, with both Manchester City, and QPR, jubilant, for very different reasons.

At the beginning of the day many would have thought City would get the win they needed to secure the Premiership title, but few would have predicted the manner.

The home side had begun slowly, failing to really test QPR stopper Paddy Kenny in the opening quarter of the game, even though they had all the ball. The visitors on the other hand were content to sit back and soak up the City pressure, and this stretegy didn’t change much even when news of a Stoke goal against Bolton sent the travelling Rangers fans into their own private celebration.

Symptoms of City’s nerves could be felt throughout the stadium, and they weren’t helped when Wayne Rooney then put rivals United 1-0 ahead against Sunderland up at the Stadium of Light.

With City struggling to break down QPR, the home crowd then tried to rally their heroes with cries of "Come on City!"... and it worked. Five minutes before the break they finally took the lead.

Yaya Toure, who was basically running on one leg, fed onrushing rightback Pablo Zabaleta, who drove into the penalty area and fired a powerful shot at Kenny. It was too hot to handle. The QPR keeper palmed the ball into the air and onto the far post, before it dropped just over the line.

The script then went bonkers after the interval when Rangers added another twist. City defender Joleon Lescott misjudged a header and inadvertently played in Rangers striker Djibril Cisse, who looked up and volleyed past Joe Hart to level the scores.

Then came even more drama in the 56th minute when QPR badboy Joey Barton was sent off for hitting out at Carlos Tevez following a tangle on the edge of the area.

Barton then kneed Sergio Aguero as he made an angry exit, coming face-to-face with Vincent Kompany before being confronted by an equally mad Mario “Zakes” Balotelli, who was an unused substitute at the time.

Amazingly, despite being down to 10-men, QPR took the lead in the 66th minute when substitute Armand Traore broke away down the left and sent over a deep cross that found Jamie Mackie at the back post, who duly blasted to bullet a header past Hart.

Content, happy, whatever, QPR sat back and invited pressure. City now knew they had to find two goals from somehwere in the final stages to win the title.

Mad pressure, and nerves, insued. Kenny tipped a Tevez header over the bar before Aguero found substitute Edin Dzeko, whose low near-post shot was flicked away well by a busy Kenny. Balotelli was introduced with just under 15 minutes to go as Roberto Mancini bolstered his front line, and the Italian striker saw a stinging effort again blocked away by Kenny.

However it really wasn’t coming together at all for City, and some United fans were beginning to celebrate number 20. But just when it looked all over, City equalised in the second minute of added time when substitute Dzeko dramatically headed home. And then, incredibly, top scorer Aguero wrote his name in City folklore, and sent the Etihad into raptures, by drilling a low shot past Kenny just seconds before the full-time whistle.

The Championship moment... Sergio Aguero scores the winner

City, the noisy neighbours, have reason to be noisy. They have beaten Manchester United to the championship thanks to having a better goal difference, and they claim their first title since 1968.

“I’ve never seen anything like that. Five minutes to the end, I didn’t think we could win this game,” City manager Mancini said afterwards.

Yes, it was crazy. And Manchester City are Premier League champions.

Premier League last day scores:

Manchester City 3-2 QPR, Sunderland 0-1 Manchester United, West Brom 2-3 Arsenal, Tottenham 2-0 Fulham, Stoke 2-2 Bolton, Swansea 1-0 Liverpool, Everton 3-1 Newcastle, Wigan 3-2 Wolves, Norwich 2-0 Aston Villa, Chelsea 2-1 Blackburn