It almost turned in a mission impossible for Tom Cruise to see Manchester City's bid to retain their Premier League crown at the Manchester derby. Busy filming All You Need Is Kill down in Hertfordshire, the star faced a race against time to get there for the Premiere league clash. So the Hollywood star chartered a private helicopter to take him and veteran actor Robert Duvall 200 miles up to Manchester's Etihad Stadium to watch the all-important match between champions City and the current leaders of the Barclays Premier League, Manchester United.
The American actor said he had been watching English football since the Eighties and predicted a "great game" between the top two. "This is the first game that I've seen in England," Tom said on Sky Sports 1."I've been following it since the Eighties so I'm just excited that I'm able to be here." The
Jerry Maguire actor is friends with David Beckham and he revealed the former England captain had sent him a message ahead of the game. "He wishes he was here. I got an email from him, he's jealous that I'm here," Tom added. Tom's friend Robert appeared to be a little rusty on the rules. He said: "Will there be a shootout today? No. If it a tie? No." Predicting the match, the star said it was too close to call. "You could flip a coin," said the 81-year-old actor. In the end, he was right - United clinched a 3-2 victory in stoppage time.
The football fun was a great way for Tom to wind down after shooting his new action flick, in which he plays a soldier battling aliens. The 50-year-old star was recently snapped shooting scenes in Trafalgar Square, swooping down in a helicopter and wearing a uniform which harked back to his days in Top Gun, the movie which catapulted him to fame. Tom got back to work after spending Thanksgiving with his daughter Suri. The youngster flew to the UK from her home in New York for the holiday whilst mum Katie Holmes visited her parents' house. With Tom on location in London, his busy schedule has made it difficult to see his daughter since the summer when they enjoyed a fun-filled day out at Disney World, Florida. Katie -who is currently starring in the Broadway production Dead Accounts - has secured full custody of young Suri in the wake of her headline-dominating divorce case from Tom, and as she cultivates her new, independent life, her daughter is now a pupil at the elite $39,750-per-year Avenues School, which has campuses around the world in case youngsters need to follow their globetrotting parents to other countries.