And although United penned us into our own half for most of the second period, City managed to hang on thanks to superb performances from centre-halves Richard Dunne and Micah Richards, while Didi Hamann also made a vital contribution.
"The team fought," said Sven. "It was difficult to begin with but, for a while in the first half, we played really good football.
"We struggled in the second half but defensively we were absolutely fantastic, from the goalkeeper through the backline. The two centre-halves were incredible.
"Defensively we did some great work, and Bianchi came on and was running all over the place."
Sven also praised us fans for making home advantage count by getting behind the team before and during the game.
"The fans were fantastic," he said. "Everyone singing 'Blue Moon' and waving the scarves before the game, the whole stadium was blue and white - that was a great sight."