MANCINI SUPPORTS UNITED

The Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has strangely stated that he will be supporting Manchester United when they will be taking on Real Madrid in the last 16 stage of the Champions League. Mancini has said that he is hoping that the Champions league progression for United will be a blessing in disguise for City because it will be a distraction for the Red Devils. United have a massive advantage over City in the table. They are the odds on favourite to win the title this season. Mancini has said that playing against Real Madrid will certainly not be easy because they are one of the best teams in the world.

It was not long ago that City played against Madrid in the group stages of the competition. Due to tough nature of the group, City were unable to progress of the group stages. Even though it led to a lot of criticism for the manager, he is hoping that it will turn into a blessing this time around. City will have a lot of time to concentrate on the Premier league because they only have the FA Cup as the other competition in the remainder of the season. United, on the other hand, will have to focus on 3 competitions.

“Yes, it would be another two games for them. I will go there and support them with a red-and-white flag. But playing Real is tough — they are one of the best in the world. Them and Barca. They have incredible players, fantastic history. It will be very hard for United to beat them because they are a really top club. If we could do it last year when we were eight points behind with six games to go, it’s not impossible that we can recover this with 14 games left,” said Mancini.

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LIVERPOOL OR CITY

The Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has increased the tension between them and arch rivals Manchester City by saying that he thinks that the game with Liverpool is far more important than the matches against their local rivals. The history between Manchester United and Liverpool is extremely well-known and there is a strong rivalry between the two clubs. Even the Manchester United and Manchester City have had the same rivalry, it has not been the most important match over the course of the season until only recently following the arrival of new owners at City.

United will be facing their old foes Liverpool during the weekend. Despite Liverpool struggling near the mid-table, Scholes thinks that the match against Liverpool is always huge. Scholes has also taken a dig at City by saying that it will take them many years in order to achieve the history that Liverpool have in the game. Liverpool are the second most successful club when it comes to the most number of league titles – 18. However, they are the most successful club in England when it comes to the number of European trophies won – 5. City, on the other hand, have only recently won their first league title for 44 years, and are looking unlikely to retain it this season.

“It’ll probably take years for City to create what Liverpool have done. Liverpool historically are our biggest rivals, they’re always the biggest games and the best atmospheres. Liverpool probably haven’t done as well as they’d have liked over the last few years — and they’d probably admit that. But it’s definitely still right up there, it will always be right up there,” said Scholes. The 38-year-old midfielder is expected to be a key ingredient of the United team during the weekend. Scholes has made 14 appearances for the club this season.

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NOT AT FULL POWER

The Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has admitted that his team are not exactly firing on all cylinders in the recent matches. Even though City have won the Premier league title last season, they have been unable to build on that success as they have struggled this season. However, a number of crucial goals from players like Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, and Edin Dzeko has played a crucial role in keeping City near the top of the table. After the recent match with Everton, City allowed United to open a four-point advantage. This was because of the 1-1 draw for City, while United managed a 4-3 win over Reading.

After the Everton match, Mancini admitted that are not firing on all cylinders and this is the reason for them not performing well in all competitions this season. City were recently dumped out of the Champions League after a disappointing group stage performance, while they know look second favourites to win the title this season. It looks very much like United will be top of the table on Christmas and New Year. Even though City managed to stretch their unbeaten home record to 37 matches, the manager was extremely disappointed after the 1-1 draw with Everton.

City were rescued courtesy of penalty from Carlos Tevez, which was questionable. Everton have taken the lead through the Belgian Marouane Fellaini. “We spent most of the second half in Everton’s half but we couldn’t find a way through. Our strikers aren’t firing on all cylinders at the moment and not scoring enough goals but they worked hard today and they will have periods like that during the season. We are not going to go through the season winning every game and sometimes you have to accept it is not going your way and take something out of the game,” said Mancini.

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Aguero could play against Real

It would be fair to say that Manchester City certainly missed the presence of Sergio Aguero in the club’s 1-1 draw with Stoke at the weekend, although it might not be too long before supporters see the Argentina striker take to the field again. Roberto Mancini has stated that the 24-year-old has been training with the first team squad for a week and is now in contention for the Champions League game against Real Madrid this week.

Aguero’s campaign started in the most disastrous fashion after he was forced off in City’s first game of the campaign against Southampton with a knee injury. Fortunately, he has not missed too many outings domestically due to the international break, although Mancini could not contain his disgust after Argentina decided to call up the player even though it was obvious he was not fit to play in their fixtures last week.

Nevertheless, after failing to return for the weekend game against Stoke, it looks like Aguero will definitely be involved in some capacity against Real on Tuesday. Speaking to the media, Mancini said, “Sergio has had a week working with the team so I think so. Real Madrid are one of the best teams in the world. To play the first game away will be very tough but at the same time I think it will be a fantastic game for everyone.”

With Aguero poised to return to the reckoning, it remains to be seen which attacking option Mancini will decide to sacrifice. He opted to start with Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli for the game with Stoke, with Edin Dzeko coming on as a late substitute. Following the troubles in front of goal in that clash, nobody quite knows what action the Italian will take ahead of the big Champions League encounter on Wednesday evening.

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