The 1994-95 season for Manchester United was, by and large, one to forget.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men dramatically lost out to Blackburn Rovers on the final day of the campaign where the Premier League title was concerned, while a week later Everton beat United at Wembley to win the FA Cup. Also, in January, talisman Eric Cantona was suspended for nine months for the infamous kung-fu kick that he aimed at a Crystal Palace supporter.
However, one chink of light in an otherwise disappointing term came about 20 years ago today with the visit of rivals Manchester City to Old Trafford.
Back in 1989, City romped to a 5-1 victory over United at Maine Road - a match that Ferguson would later describe as his "most embarrassing defeat" throughout his long tenure.
A winning margin of such proportion handed the blue half of Manchester the local bragging rights for a number of years, only for United to snatch it back thanks largely to the influence of Cantona and Andrei Kanchelskis.
With 24 minutes on the clock, Cantona collected a long ball from Kanchelskis with the outside of his right boot. Then, as goalkeeper Simon Tracey approached, the Frenchman powered his shot straight down the middle of the goal with his left foot.
Cantona then turned provider two minutes before the break when he picked out Kanchelskis on the right side of the penalty area and the Ukrainian's low effort got the better of Tracey at his near post.
Kanchelskis's second goal of the contest arrived just 120 seconds after the restart, with Cantona once again heavily involved. It was his flick on that released the speedy winger, who held off the attention of Terry Phelan, before going on to round Tracey and roll the ball into an empty net.
Mark Hughes then got in on the act with 20 minutes remaining when he poked home Roy Keane's cross at the second attempt, but Kanchelskis ensured in the 89th minute that the night would belong to him.
Schmeichel threw the ball out to the hat-trick hunter, who in turn played a forward pass to Cantona. He returned the favour once again by releasing Kanchelskis, only for his effort to be denied by Tracey. But, the rebound fell kindly for Kanchelskis and he squeezed the ball in to complete the rout.
MAN UNITED: Schmeichel; Irwin, Bruce, Pallister, Keane; Giggs (Scholes), McClair, Ince, Kanchelskis; Hughes, Cantona
MAN CITY: Tracey; Edghill, Brightwell, Vonk, Phelan; Flitcroft, Summerbee, Beagrie, Lomas; Walsh, Quinn
Liam Apicella
