Ten years at the Liberty: Beating the champions elect

To celebrate Swansea City's tenth season at the Liberty Stadium, we are looking back on the stand-out moments over the last decade.
Here, we go back to the day the Swans beat eventual league winners Manchester City at the Liberty.



Swansea City 1 Manchester City 0
Barclays Premier League
March 11, 2012

With just a dozen fixtures left of the 2011-12 season, Swansea hosted league leaders Manchester City at the Liberty Stadium.
Roberto Mancini's side were in a neck-and-neck battle for the title with their fierce city rivals United, and with only two points separating the sides everything pointed towards the championship going down to the wire.
But a bold and adventurous Swans side was always going to be a test of Man City's title credentials. Brendan Rodgers' side began the day sharing the best defensive record at home in the Premier League with Liverpool, whilst they stated their attacking intentions from the off.
Straight from kick-off, the Swans slipped effortlessly into their familiar passing style, posing early questions to their visitors despite their side being worth over £150 million less than their wealthy counterparts.



The first indication of alarms to come for Man City came in just the second minute when the Swans were awarded a penalty following a coming together between goalkeeper Joe Hart and Wayne Routledge. Scott Sinclair took responsibility for the spot kick, but his uncharacteristically tame effort was saved comfortably by Hart.
The setback seemed to disrupt the home side for a short while, but after Ashley Williams stepped in to prevent a threatening Yaya Toure run on 20 minutes, Swansea's composure visibly returned.
The enigmatic forward Mario Balotelli cut a frustrating figure up front for City, and displayed that frustration by attempting an audacious shot at goal from the halfway line, which only just reached Swansea's 18-yard box.
The midway point arrived with the game poised goalless, but such was the Swans' midfield dominance that Gareth Barry was booked for the visitors before being hauled off after just 38 minutes.
Having seen his side outplayed and outfought in the first half, Mancini brought on Sergio Aguero for Barry, pushing the Argentinean striker into an advanced position behind Balotelli.
But as was the case with the opening 45 minutes, the Swans continued to dictate play after the interval. Toure was even called into action to clear off his own goal-line with Joe Allen breathing down his neck following good play by Gylfi Sigurdsson.



The visitors enjoyed more possession as the game wore on, but they weren't able to convert that possession into goals.
With 84 minutes played, the game looked as though it was heading towards a scoreless draw. But Swansea's belief didn't drift.
A Stefan Savic pass was cut out by Sigurdsson, who surged forward into the opposition half before releasing Leon Britton with an incisive pass. Britton then found Rangel, who laid the ball out wide to Routledge to send an inch-perfect cross into the box for substitute Luke Moore to meet with a powerful header. The ball flew past a helpless Hart and into the back of the net, sending the Swansea faithful into raptures.
The raucous noise was briefly halted when Man City's Micah Richards beat Michel Vorm to the ball from a Gael Clichy cross, only for the Sian Massey to flag for offside.




Player profile
Luke Moore (2011-2013)  
Luke Moore's footballing talent was evident from a young age and, together with his brother Stefan, was a member of Aston Villa's youth academy.
It was during his time at Villa Park that Luke gained his first success as a professional player, when he won the FA Youth Cup alongside his brother in 2002.
A spell on loan at Wycombe Wanderers in 2003-04 followed for Moore before he returned to the Midlands to make his Villa debut in 2004 against city rivals Birmingham City in a 2-2 draw in the Premier League.
Moore went on to make 87 appearances for the Villans over the course of the next four seasons, but after going out on loan to rivals West Brom, he signed for the Baggies for £3.5million in 2008.
But Moore failed to settle at the Hawthorns and soon found himself out on a loan spell at Derby County.
It was when new Swans manager Brendan Rodgers recognised the need to bolster his attacking options after taking over the reigns at the Liberty Stadium that he duly signed Moore in January 2011. The striker made his debut the day after signing for the club in an FA Cup tie against Colchester United.
After helping the Swans earn promotion to the Premier League, Moore was used mainly as a substitute during Swansea's first season back in the top flight.
He scored the winning goal that saw Rodgers' side upset the odds to beat Manchester City at the Liberty in March 2012.
But with his opportunities limited following Rodgers' departure and Michael Laudrup's arrival in South Wales, Moore left the club in August 2013 before joining Turkish side Elazigspor.
Moore later went on to feature for Chivas USA before moving to Toronto FC, where he remains today.