On a wing and a prayer - Nani & Co help deliver silverware

In a quirk of footballing fate, the red and blue sides of Manchester are both poised to claim silverware this weekend. And while these arch rivals may rarely see eye to eye, the importance of wingers is something they do apparently agree on.

Nani, and more recently, Antonio Valencia, have played crucial roles in carrying Manchester United to the brink of a record-breaking 19th English title. For Manchester City, David Silva and Adam Johnson have been key men in Roberto Mancini's march to the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Watching with delight from Asia has been former England winger Peter Barnes, one of only a handful of players who has worn the colours of both clubs. Barnes dazzled down the left in the 1970s and 1980s before fading into oblivion as Man City adopted a more conservative approach.

'It is great to see wingers back in vogue again because as Sir Alex Ferguson has shown, the best form of defence is attack, as scoring goals wins games,' the Barnes said. 'Even dating back to his days with Aberdeen when he had Gordon Strachan and Peter Weir, Sir Alex has always loved playing with wingers and they continue to bring him success more than 30 years later.'

Born four months apart, Strachan and Barnes were signed by former Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson and brought to Old Trafford in the mid-1980s.

Barnes had been a teenage prodigy at Manchester City, scoring in their 1976 English League Cup victory over Newcastle United. But soon after Ferguson arrived in November 1986, he sent the former PFA Young Player of the Year back to his old club in a major clear-out while allowing Strachan to stay on. He'd make 160 league appearances over five years.