tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-691918095716460142024-03-04T21:23:15.582-08:00MANCHESTER CITY FCSaad ahmedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14755484994880977078noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69191809571646014.post-73160937997711364502012-09-08T14:41:00.000-07:002012-09-08T14:41:35.654-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">TRANSFER NEWS: Cristiano Ronaldo Sad, Move to Manchester City?</span></u></h1>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Manchester City keeps the record breaking Portuguese Striker in
their Summer Transfer wishlist this summer which might create a new
transfer record if executed.</strong></span></h1>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">The Abu Dhabi power-giants, make a sensational plan to sign Cr7 from
Real Madrid this summer according to the goal.com and this could match a
record breaking C.Ronaldo’s £80 Million transfer from Manchester United
to Real Madrid on 2009. He could be provided with any salary between
£400,000 to £500,000 per week if he lands Manchester.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">According to current link up of CR7′s current agent Jorge Mendes and
some of the senior city staffs over past years gives us hint that this
transfer could be more than a rumor. Additionally, Owner Sheikh Mansour
being a great admirer of Ronaldo could be a plus point for smooth
execution of this deal.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">It was previously revealed that city got an idea of landing the
Portuguese on last summer transfer but it was not just the right time.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">City had already targeted Kaka(at record breaking transfer fee-£90
estimated) which failed but their current growth could assist them to
succeed this time).</span></b></div>
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Saad ahmedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14755484994880977078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69191809571646014.post-84970647224132331342012-05-13T13:50:00.000-07:002012-05-18T04:25:28.850-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
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<u style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Man City deserved Premier League title - Roberto Mancini</span></u></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini says his side deserved their Premier League crown after snatching the title with a dramatic 3-2 win over QPR.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">City scored two stoppage-time goals to get the win they needed to pip Manchester United on goal difference.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"We have beaten United two times, we have scored more than them and conceded less so we deserve it," Mancini said.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"I never gave up. It was a crazy finish to the game and the season but the best team won the title."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Mancini publicly wrote off his side's chances when City trailed United by eight points on 8 April but says that privately he never lost hope.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"When I said the title was over a few weeks ago it was because I wanted to take the pressure off," Mancini explained.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"I was sure we would have another chance. We now need to improve and I am very happy because for an Italian to win the title here in England is fantastic for all Italian people."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">While United faltered, Mancini's side won their last six games - including vital wins over their neighbours and Newcastle in the past fortnight - to draw level on points at the top of the table.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">That left City knowing a a victory over QPR on Sunday would deliver a first league title since 1968.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">City led 1-0 at half-time but QPR hit back with two second-half goals and, even after the visitors had Joey Barton sent off, the home side could find no way through against the 10 men.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">With time running out, and United beating Sunderland, Edin Dzeko levelled from a corner before Mario Balotelli set up Sergio Aguero for a 94th-minute winner that decided the outcome of the title race.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"It was just incredible but the result was right and we deserved to win this game," added Mancini, who wrapped himself in an Italian flag at the final whistle.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"I never gave up. I always hoped that Sunderland could score a goal but it was a crazy finish to the game and the season. I have never seen one like this.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"I have never known a moment like this when we scored those two goals and I am so proud of my players because they wanted to win this title so much. They wanted to win this title until the last minute of the season and they proved it here.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"To beat a strong team like United is fantastic. We have changed the history of this club and for that we should be proud. We deserved this and so do all our supporters.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"It was good that Mario Balotelli was involved in the assist for Sergio's goal and it was right that Sergio should score the goal.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"This is an incredible moment. We wanted this title and we deserve to win this title. This is for all our supporters, the club, the chairman and the owner. This is the perfect finale for a crazy season."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">City's assistant manager David Platt admitted his side made it as difficult as possible for themselves against Rangers but says they want to build on their title success.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Platt told BBC Radio 5 live: "In the space of 20 minutes in the second half we were staring down the abyss.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"But football has astonished me today. It's been absolutely bizarre. I can't put my emotions into words. We now have the experience of winning something, and we'll enjoy it now.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"For Roberto Mancini, he'll enjoy it tonight but tomorrow this will be gone. We go again."</span></div>
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<u style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.154;">Manchester City seal title at the last as Sergio Agüero sinks QPR</u></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The only word to describe it is bedlam. Manchester City are the champions of England but where do you start? How, seriously, can it be possible to sum up the raw, shredded emotion of those final, exhilarating moments, the scale of what it means and the sheer drama that unravelled before the party could begin and the Premier League trophy was in Roberto Mancini's hands?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">There can be only one other moment to compete with this and it was Michael Thomas's title-winning goal for Arsenal at Anfield in 1989. Mancini's team played with their supporters' nerves to the point of brutality. They were 2-1 down going into stoppage time, on the verge of a defeat so harrowing they would never have been allowed to forget it. There were supporters leaving the ground in tears, scarcely believing the team could have been so reckless.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">What happened next was so extraordinary it is difficult to know if there are enough superlatives in existence to do it justice. Edin Dzeko's header to make it 2-2 came in the 92nd minute, at a point when the crowd were watching in almost numb disbelief. On the sidelines, Mancini and his coaching staff could be seen imploring everyone to go forward, desperately relaying the news that Manchester United were winning at Sunderland. Except City had played dismally all afternoon, consumed by nerves against the team with the worst away record in the league. Queens Park Rangers had fought back from a goal down, despite the latest red card for the Joey Barton portfolio of shame.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The London club have avoided relegation courtesy of Stoke City's draw with Bolton Wanderers but their manager, Mark Hughes, described himself as "flat" later on, still trying to work out how his team had been beaten. City, he said, had "lost all direction". He, like everyone else, was bamboozled by what had happened.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">It goes like this: four of the five minutes of extra time had elapsed when Sergio Agüero found himself with the ball. He was inside the penalty area, on his right foot, and it was then that everything suddenly seemed to go into slow motion. This was the moment football blurred with pandemonium.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">His shirt was off, the victory run had started and the stadium was a mosh pit of flailing bodies. City had wrenched the title out of Manchester United's grasp, with 60 seconds to spare and the Etihad Stadium crowd roared and sobbed and bounced and screamed. Mancini talked later on of worrying about his father Aldo, remembering he had suffered a heart attack two summers ago.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">When they have time to take a deep breath City will reflect that they really ought to have made this a far easier assignment once Pablo Zabaleta had moved forward from right-back, six minutes before half-time, and fired in a shot that looped off Paddy Kenny's glove and dropped in off the far post.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">At that stage <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/qpr" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="More from guardian.co.uk on QPR">QPR</a> had played as though in a straightjacket, barely venturing out of their own half. Kenny should have kept out Zabaleta's shot and it was reasonable at that point to believe a team that has dropped only two points at home all season would go on to emphasise their superiority with more goals. Except this was a day when the most financially powerful club on the planet threatened to revert to those years when they somehow always contrived to mess it up and leave the joke on themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The entire complexion of the game changed three minutes into the second half when Shaun Wright-Phillips flicked a hopeful pass forward and Joleon Lescott's mistimed header allowed Djibril Cissé to run clear. The striker advanced towards Joe Hart and thumped his drive beyond the goalkeeper.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">What followed was extraordinary even before we reached those final, stupefying moments. After 55 minutes Barton tangled with Carlos Tevez on the edge of the penalty area and the Argentinian went down, clutching his face. The referee, Mike Dean, brought out a red card and it was then it became apparent Barton was not going to go quietly. This was a street-fighter masquerading as a footballer, exposing the myth of being a changed man.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Agüero was then felled from behind, with a snide kick to the back of his legs. Suddenly Barton seemed intent on trying to prolong the argument with anyone in his proximity, shoving his head towards Vincent Kompany's face and moving aggressively in the direction of anyone in blue. Even as he was manhandled to the side of the pitch, he was trying to get at the City substitute Mario Balotelli. Mancini was on the pitch, ordering Kompany away from the flashpoint as City's players sought retribution.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Barton has no mitigating circumstances and his recklessness could have had ghastly consequences for his team. He deserves the club fine that will come his way and the FA will almost certainly have to act. If Hughes has any sense, he will also remove the captaincy because if ever there was an example of a player not understanding the true qualities of leadership, this was it. Hypothetical or not, it is no exaggeration to say QPR could have been relegated because of his stupidity. The strange thing was that QPR actually improved when they were down a man.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City were tense, nervous, rushing passes, unable to find their usual rhythm despite having a huge amount of possession. Then, on 66 minutes, a sudden, damp silence fell over the stadium as QPR broke, the substitute Armand Traoré crossed from the left and Jamie Mackie's header gave the away side the lead.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">After that, there were periods when City seemed totally devoid of ideas but, to their credit, they always kept going. Everyone in the stadium knew United were winning and that, if this was the return of "Cityitis", it was going straight in at No1 in the list of games that would always haunt them. But then the board went up for extra time and football, bloody hell.</span></div>
</div>Saad ahmedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14755484994880977078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69191809571646014.post-60243065194770795342012-05-08T13:16:00.000-07:002012-05-10T13:43:59.513-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><u>Manchester City v QPR</u></span></h1>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Manchester City can clinch </span></span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">their first league title since </span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">1968 with a win over Queens </span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Park Rangers on the final day </span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">of a memorable season.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">City, equal on 86 points with </span><span style="font-size: small;">local rivals United but on top of </span><span style="font-size: small;">the table with a superior goal </span><span style="font-size: small;">difference, know three points at </span><span style="font-size: small;">Etihad Stadium on Sunday will </span><span style="font-size: small;">secure the trophy.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">QPR on the other hand remain locked in a survival battle and need a result against the rampaging City to secure their top flight status for another season.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">With Carlos Tevez and Sergio Augero firing up front for City, Yaya Toure, whose brace against Newcastle United last weekend guided City to their fifth win in as many outings, wants to finish the job.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"The job is not done yet," Toure told the official Manchester City website.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"We have to keep going because QPR need the points, but it would be amazing if we win.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"It is for occasions like this I came to City - to make history - and I hope I will make history at the weekend.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"Forty-four years is unbelievably long time to wait for another title - it is too many years. Now we have one game left and we have to deliver."</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">QPR are two points clear of Bolton Wanderers, who will be relegated with Wolverhampton and Blackburn Rovers should they fail to defeat Stoke City away.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Should Bolton win however, they would leapfrog QPR into Premier League safety if the London-based side left Manchester without a point.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"I can't wait for the game - I can't wait to go to Man City," QPR captain Joey Barton said.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"They expect us to turn up and them to probably stuff us and go on and win the league.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"If that is their attitude, they will get a reality check. It's 11 men against 11 men, there is a lot of pressure out there.</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"We have one game to go and we are masters of our own destiny."</span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">City edged out QPR 3-2 last time the sides met in November with Toure striking the winner at Loftus Road.</span></h1>
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<u style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 1.154; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sheikh Mansour to watch decisive Manchester City v QPR game on TV</span></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">• On Sunday, City hope to win first championship in 44 years</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">• Abu Dhabi-based owner has seen only one match at Etihad</span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Sheikh Mansour</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">is not expected to be at the Etihad stadium on Sunday to watch</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Manchester City</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">take on Queens Park Rangers as they attempt to win a first championship in 44 years.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The decision may suggest he is relaxed about the future of Roberto Mancini, with the Abu Dhabi-based owner of the club pleased at how the manager has rallied the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Premier League</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">challengers during the closing phase of the campaign.</span><br />
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Having been eight points behind Manchester United when losing 1-0 at Arsenal early last month, City have only to match their city rivals' result to be sure of the title, unless the champions can overturn their superior goal difference of eight at Sunderland.</div>
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Mansour will watch the game with QPR – as he does all matches – on television with his diary thought to currently prevent him attending the decisive fixture, though there may still be a late change.</div>
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Since buying the club in the summer of 2008, Mansour's schedule has allowed him to attend a match at the Etihad once – last season's 3-0 victory over Liverpool</div>
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<u style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Manchester City still only have two fingers on League trophy: Mancini</u></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">London: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has warned his players against any kind of complacency, reminding them that they only have two fingers on the Premier League trophy.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">City are on the verge of winning the Premier League title for the first time in 44 years, following wins over Manchester United and Newcastle United.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Etihad club now has to beat relegation-threatened Queens Park Rangers at their home ground on Sunday to be sure of s</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">tealing the crown off local rivals United.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">But Mancini has told his delighted players and staff they should not start dreaming of glory just yet.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">“We have two fingers on the trophy. But it is not enough, because we still have one more game and it is a difficult one,” a daily quoted Mancini, as saying.</span></span></h1>
<h1 class="v5-art-hdl main-headline" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">“My feeling is good after the Newcastle result and so is the feeling of the players. But we need to play the QPR game in the right mood,” he added.</span></span><table align="right" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;" width:210=""><tbody>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Italian fears if his players lose their focus over the week then the clash with the struggling QPR will become much tougher.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">“We have managed to keep the players’ feet on the ground. We did it before we played United. Then we did it last week before we played Newcastle. We won’t change anything,” Mancini said.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: SkyTextMedium, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">“If we don’t keep our concentration and prepare well for the game it will end up being very difficult,” he added. </span></span>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><u>Dzeko told to quit City</u></span></h1>
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<b style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 25px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Bosnia boss worried for striker's long-term career</span></b></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Reported Bayern Munich and Juventus target Edin Dzeko has been encouraged to quit Manchester City but is considered too expensive for a move to Italy.</span></div>
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<span class="lingo_region" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Bosnia striker's international manager, Safet Susic, is worried a fringe role at club level is going to lead to a wasted career.</span></span></div>
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<span class="lingo_region" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Dzeko has not scored since February and has slipped to fourth in Roberto Mancini's striking options, with further attacking reinforcements expected to arrive this summer.</span></span></div>
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The £27million January 2011 signing from Wolfsburg has consequently been linked with a return to Germany with Bayern or Borussia Dortmund.</div>
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And Susic thinks Dzeko would benefit from moving, as the Bosnia boss is quoted as saying in the <i>Daily Mirror</i>: "Dzeko's situation at Manchester City cannot last forever. He knows what is best for him.</div>
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"It seems that Manchester City will win the title, which means Roberto Mancini and his staff will remain, and I saw that City are planning to bring in even more attacking players."</div>
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Juventus have also been linked with Dzeko, however, the striker's agent, Silvano Martina, does not think any Serie A club would be able to afford City's possible asking price.</div>
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"Dzeko is a champion, although this season he has not done so well," said Martina. "The City striker costs too much, so no Italian club will deal with the English club to buy him now."</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">With the end of the season fast approaching, we take look at how those Blues out on loan fared for their respective clubs this weekend.</span></span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">In the race for Champions League qualification, <a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Strikers/Emmanuel-Adebayor" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Emmanuel Adebayor</a>’s Tottenham failed to take advantage of Arsenal’s slip up against Norwich by only managing a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Chelsea’s involvement in this year’s Champions League Final means that only finishing in the Premier League’s top three could guarantee <a href="http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/spurs/News/latest-news.page?" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Spurs</a> qualification to Europe’s elite competition and though the Togolese striker pulled ten-man Tottenham level from the spot, the Lilywhites failed to do enough to reclaim third place and now sit a point behind local rivals Arsenal with just one game remaining.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">At the other end of the table, Dedryck Boyata’s Bolton surrendered a two-goal lead to seriously threaten their own hopes of survival. Boyata – who played 90 minutes for the Trotters – could do nothing to prevent West Brom’s 90th minute equaliser and ahead of their trip to Stoke, Owen Coyle’s men now sit two points adrift of safety.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Wayne Bridge’s Sunderland continued to struggle by slipping to defeat at the hands of Fulham. Martin O’Neill’s side haven’t won a game since the end of March but Blues will be hoping that Bridge – who went unused on the bench this weekend – and his team-mates will still have a say in the title race ahead of United’s trip to Wearside on Sunday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Harry Bunn’s Oldham brought an end to their League One campaign with a fine 2-1 win over play-off-chasing Carlisle. The City Academy graduate played 79 minutes as Paul Dickov’s Latics claimed their first win in nine and finished the season in 16th.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Following up their incredible 9-0 drubbing of Solberg with a 3-0 victory over Sogndal, Mohammed Abu played 90 minutes for Norwegian league leaders Stromsgodset who climbed back to the summit after Rosenborg had temporarily overtaken them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">What Vladimir Weiss’ Espanyol would give for a slice of Stromsgodset’s luck! Despite chasing European qualification for the best part of the season, a run of one win in ten has seen the Spanish outfit drop to 13th and only five points above the relegation zone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Weiss played the full game for Espanyol but watched four-goal hero <a href="http://www.leomessi.com/eng/" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Lionel Messi</a> put on a footballing master class that the Slovakian winger will dream of one day matching.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-large;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div>Saad ahmedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14755484994880977078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69191809571646014.post-15281899791575451392012-05-04T03:44:00.000-07:002012-05-06T12:36:56.529-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-large;"><b><u>LATEST NEWS</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.0666; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b><u><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Manchester City win to edge closer to title</span></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Manchester City move within touching distance of their </span></b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">first title for 44 years, as Yaya Toure scores twice to beat </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Newcastle.</span></b></span>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Ivory Coast midfielder beat Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul with a low curling shot with 20 minutes left.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">He then added a second from close range with time running out.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City now know that victory over QPR in their final match of the season will secure the Premier League title.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">This was a dominant display by City, inspired by Vincent Kompany's defensive generalship, David Silva's prodigious work in midfield, stellar finishing by Toure and a workrate and ambition that glowed throughout the team.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The omens must have given Roberto Mancini's men cause for hope and optimism before kick-off.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">It was at this ground on 11 May 1968 that City won to clinch their last league title. Some 44 years on, history repeated itself as City moved to within three points of the prize that has eluded them for so long.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">While it was understandable that much of the attention focused on City, Newcastle were chasing a prize of their own.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Arsenal's 3-3 draw with Norwich City had opened the door to Champions League qualification.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">It was fitting, then, that Sir Bobby Robson - the last manager to lead Newcastle into Europe's top club competition - had been immortalised before kick-off as the club unveiled a statue to honour his memory.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">But it was City who dominated the opening 30 minutes. Sharper to the ball, swifter to use it, City forced Krul, the Newcastle goalkeeper, into action on a number of occasions.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Dutchman was forced to turn away low shots from both David Silva and Sergio Aguero, while Carlos Tevez went close with a curling free-kick.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; line-height: 1.35;">It took Newcastle half an hour to produce their first effort on goal, but more soon followed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Demba Ba fizzed a 25-yard shot over Joe Hart's crossbar. Moments later the Newcastle striker saw his goalbound shot blocked by Kompany after a clever run by Jonas Gutierrez. The ball ran to Ben Arfa but his low shot was well saved by Hart, low to his left.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">It was City, however, who had the best chance of the half shortly before the interval. The mercurial Silva broke clear down the left and cut the ball back to Gareth Barry near the penalty spot.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The England midfielder's first shot was blocked by Fabricio Coloccini, while his second found a path to goal only for Davide Santon to clear off the line.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City maintained their momentum after the restart with Tevez fired high and wide, before testing Krul from distance.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; line-height: 1.35;">As the half wore on Mancini's side were struggling to convert their lion's share of possession into clear-cut chances.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Then came what proved to be an inspired substitution. Nigel De Jong replaced Nasri on the hour mark to allow Toure to push into a more advanced position behind Aguero and Tevez.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Ivorian made an instant impact in his new role. Collecting a neat lay-off from Aguero, he curled a wonderful low shot beyond Krul's outstretched left hand to spark scenes of jubilation in the away end and on the City bench. It was the first goal Newcastle had conceded in 497 minutes of football at the Sports Direct Arena.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City should have made sure of the result four minutes later when Silva lofted a delightful through-ball into the path of Aguero only for the Argentine to nudge his shot inches wide of the right-hand post when clean through on goal.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Newcastle almost made City pay for their profligacy, when Ba and Papiss Cisse connected only for the latter to head high and wide from close range.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City were in charge, however. Aguero put Toure through on goal only for the City midfielder to slip at the crucial moment. Edin Dzeko turned a shot narrowly over the bar from the resulting corner.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">It mattered not, though, when Toure made sure of the result and perhaps the title a minute from time, as he finished a typically swift City counter-attack with a close-range finish.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><strong>Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini: </strong>"It is not finished. It is important that we get three points next week, we need a big effort - there is one game more. I think for us it should be a normal week. We don't change nothing, QPR will be tough, they are fighting for relegation. Nothing changes. It is ours to lose. It doesn't depend on other teams anymore.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"Toure's first goal was special, like the one he scored in the FA Cup final for us last year. This one may be more important if we can finish the season off.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"Newcastle are a good team, they have had a fantastic season. But we deserved to win today, we scored two goals and created three of four other chances to score more. Everyone played really well, the whole team played really well."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><strong>Newcastle manager Alan Pardew: </strong>"We knew the first goal was going to change everything. We didn't get it but we had a few chances to. Once that goal went in, we had to push on and that opened us up a bit.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"It was a great performance by my team. You have to say Manchester City were brilliant today. When you can bring on one world star for another... that freshness just made the difference today. But it is never over in the race for the Premier League title, no matter who your opponents are.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"We have great potential at this football club. We are back where we should be, we have tradition and history that few clubs can match. If we can win at Everton next week it will put massive pressure on Arsenal and Spurs. They have go to win now."</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Newcastle United v Manchester City</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roberto Mancini is expecting to select from the same squad of players when he names his Manchester City team to face Newcastle on Sunday.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Mancini may be tempted to stick with the starting line-up from Monday's crucial win over Manchester United, although Micah Richards and James Milner might both hope to be involved.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> City do have a good recent record on their visits to Tyneside, winning three times in an unbeaten four-match streak, and will be aiming for another success to take them a massive stride close to their first league title since 1968.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Ahead of the game Mancini has expressed his pride at City's performances this season whether they end the campaign as Premier League champions or not.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> City's crucial victory over United at the Etihad Stadium on Monday leaves them just two wins away from their first championship since 1968. No matter how the next 180 minutes pan out, Mancini believes his players have good cause to be satisfied with their efforts, especially considering they were eight points adrift of the Reds just four games ago.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "I am happy that we are here and we have this chance after being eight points behind United," he said.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "This is very important because now we have a big chance. "In the end, nothing has changed. "We still have two games to go and in football anything can happen. You can lose or win. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the guys have worked really well and I am proud of this." Presumably Mancini, with the ultimate prize so close, will not be expecting his players' focus to be drifting to what happens when the season is over.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> He did though seem a bit confused in his answer when quizzed about the subject. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Now, yes (the title is more important than the beach). In two weeks, no," he said. "We have an important game. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The players know that they have everything in their hands." Their quest this weekend is winning on Tyneside. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a task they have completed successfully on three of their last four visits, drawing the other one. None of those results was achieved against a Newcastle side competing to qualify for the Champions League though. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And certainly, none of them were achieved against a team containing a striker as lethal as Papiss Cisse presently is.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Senegal forward took his tally to 13 goals in 12 games for the Magpies with his sensational double at Chelsea on Wednesday, which kept Alan Pardew's men level on points with Tottenham in the battle for fourth spot. "Any player can improve a lot in every year," said Mancini.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "Maybe Cisse has found a good squad, that plays football very well. It is another situation for him and another type of football. Maybe that is better. "It is always difficult for someone who arrived in January.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "But he has scored 13 goals. However, even at Freiburg he played very well, even if he didn't score quite so many." </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although Mancini's team have clawed back the gap to United, he accepts the hard work is not over. Indeed, he is convinced Sunday's game will be harder than this week's encounter with United, when they prevented their opponents from having a single shot on target. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Against United we played at home and we played very well," said Mancini. "Against Newcastle it will be harder." Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote will be fit despite suffering a nasty head injury in midweek.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Ivory Coast international needed seven stitches to repair a gash above his eye after an aerial collision with John Obi Mikel in Wednesday night's 2-0 win at Chelsea, but manager Alan Pardew has no doubts he will be available for the City game. Full-back Danny Simpson (ankle) remains a doubt, but only central defender Steven Taylor (Achilles) is still on the long-term injury list. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><b><u>Man City to Offer Two Players Plus £40m Cash for Tottenham Winger Gareth Bale</u></b></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Etihad Stadium side ready to make mammoth offer for White Hart Lane wide-man. Too good to turn down?</span></div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: 700; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Bale out: City set to offer Spurs £40m players-plus-cash deal</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Massive transfer would see the Welsh winger triple his salary and potentially see Adebayor and another star swap Eastlands for Tottenham</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Super-rich City will try to make the move happen by offering the Welsh wonder THREE times his wages, which would put him on over £100,000-a-week.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Striker Emmanuel Adebayor – on loan from City to Spurs for the season – would make his switch permanent if the clubs can agree the more complicated part of the talks.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">City may also offer another player in the deal if Spurs boss Harry Redknapp and his chairman Daniel Levy do want to play ball, with Nigel De Jong and Adam Johnson both potentially on the list of candidates.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>SOURCE: <span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Daily Mirror</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Tottenham may struggle to keep their big stars if they fail to secure Champions League football for next term, something that looked on the cards prior to the turn of the year, and an offer of his magnitude for Gareth Bale may therefore be considered by the North London club.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Gareth Bale has been in excellent form over the past two seasons and this has led to genuine interest from a number of Europe’s elite, most notably from Barcelona. Last summer Tottenham chairman prevented Luka Modric from pursuing a move to Chelsea, a move the Croatian clearly wished to make, could the White Hart Lane side prevent such a deal occurring this time around?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The inclusion of Emmanuel Adebayor in any deal to buy Gareth Bale may tempt Redknapp as the Togo international has been the club’s most effective striking weapon, notching up 16 goals and 11 assists this term. Adam Johnson would of course be handy addition too.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Gareth Bale may well like the idea of tripling his current salary and also the chance to push for major honours so this deal, if it is to be believed, may well be one that could lead to the sale of the former Southampton man.</span></div>
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</div>Saad ahmedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14755484994880977078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69191809571646014.post-79464839627083502492012-05-02T09:21:00.001-07:002012-05-03T04:12:18.268-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-large;"><u><b>LATEST NEWS</b></u></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><b><u>Watch out, City! Fergie reckons Newcastle could deliver fatal blow to rivals' title dreams</u></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Sir Alex Ferguson has warned Manchester City the title race is far from over as they face a tough trip to Newcastle.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City travel to the north-east on Sunday afternoon in the early kick-off before United take on Swansea at Old Trafford.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The two sides are level pegging at the top of the Barclays Premier League going into the final two games of the exhilirating campaign.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">City's goal difference is plus-eight on their rivals - meaning that the title is almost certainly theirs if they win the remaining matches against Newcastle and </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">QPR.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">But, speaking at his Thursday morning press conference, Ferguson warned City that they face a big job trying to nullify Papiss Cisse and co, who are flying high </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">after their impressive 2-0 victory at Chelsea on Wednesday evening.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Ferguson said: 'By the time we kick off we'll know what we'll need to do. Newcastle are fighting for that position in the top four. They have a chance. It's an </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">exciting end to the season.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'The challenge for City is to win at Newcastle and Newcastle are playing very well. They've lost 4-0 at Wigan but galvanised themselves to win at Chelsea last </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">night. Their form is good and it won't be an easy game for City.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'We'll be aware of the game going on before ours. You can't avoid it. We still have to prepare for our game, though. We won't neglect our preparation for our </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">game.'</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Ferguson's side will face Swansea without injured duo Danny Welbeck and Jonny Evans.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Evans picked up a knock before Monday's 1-0 defeat in the Manchester derby and the Swansea match is likely to come too soon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Welbeck, who left the Etihad Stadium in a protective boot after a clumsy challenge from Nigel de Jong, has a slight foot problem but is set to return to face </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Sunderland on the final day of the season.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Ferguson has also warned his own players that Swansea will be no pushovers after their stunning debut season in the Premier League.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">He added: 'The way Swansea have played this season has been admirable. I went to see them last weekend. They want to play football. The manager has stuck </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">by his principles and they've had a fantastic season.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: 1.2em;">'[Losing at City on] Monday night was a blow to us. We can only do what we can now and hopefully win our game on Sunday.'</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>City boss Roberto Mancini happy for striker Carlos Tevez to remain at Etihad</u></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Roberto Mancini says he has no problem with allowing Carlos Tevez to stay at City.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> The Blues boss believes his clashes with the fiery Argentine striker are in the past after Tevez revealed exclusively in M.E.N. Sport on Monday that he wants to remain at the Etihad Stadium. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">That news gave Blues fans a big boost on derby day, as the striker said he is now settled in Manchester, before putting in a typically hard-working performance in the crucial 1-0 win over United.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Mancini said the focus now has to be entirely on beating Newcastle on Sunday afternoon, and that once the title race has been run, Tevez’s future can be sorted out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> But he has no objections to the player staying.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “Why not? He has a contract,” he said. “And he is a good player, but now our concentration should be on Newcastle.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Some sceptical City fans fear Tevez and Mancini, who have repeatedly clashed, could end up at loggerheads again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> But Mancini – who has described Tevez’s attitude as ‘perfect’ since he returned from an unauthorised three-month absence in Argentina – when asked if it was a possibility, said “No. Once was enough.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Tevez has also been much happier in his relationship with Mancini, saying the boss had been ‘good as gold’ with him since his return to training on February 14. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Tevez will be a key man as the Blues head to Newcastle on Sunday for a game in which a win would see them take a giant stride towards the league title. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And City received a big boost ahead of that game with goalkeeper Joe Hart revealing he should be fit after a late injury scare against the Reds</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Hart turned his ankle as he was fouled by United’s Chris Smalling in added time, and was given treatment for the knock yesterday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> But he said: “Everything is OK, I just caught my ankle. Chris Smalling landed on it so it hurts and has swollen up. But we have great medical</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">staff so it will be dealt with.” </span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>Manchester City's David Silva determined to seal title deal</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTQ1Kcgxda_muNBiMIop5U4EO4PVunjXKTlp2JXh91fFazbaAeupHDZMYe8LNaF-DbY3_rw4WYFeGyQIURqIczdyUvQTLm_nFi7l4zSlz9F-zvTQ6KHWYEtungu0rIZeBL4ZiHMa-zC4/s1600/mancity1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTQ1Kcgxda_muNBiMIop5U4EO4PVunjXKTlp2JXh91fFazbaAeupHDZMYe8LNaF-DbY3_rw4WYFeGyQIURqIczdyUvQTLm_nFi7l4zSlz9F-zvTQ6KHWYEtungu0rIZeBL4ZiHMa-zC4/s400/mancity1.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">David Silva has told his cock-a-hoop Manchester City teammates: “Let's finish the job!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> The silky-skilled Spaniard helped to see off Manchester United in Monday's epic derby win at the pulsating Etihad Stadium.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> But he has been the calmest man in the camp ever since, and is keen to put out the message that the euphoria of beating the Reds will count for nothing unless the Blues can go to Newcastle and win on Sunday afternoon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> And he admitted he was surprised that United have thrown away the advantage they had after City's defeat at Arsenal on Easter Sunday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “It’s been a very, very long season, very tough, but it’s very important that we finish the job now,” he said. “Win the last two matches and we win the title.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “I am surprised to see United taking an eight-point lead and then giving that up but don’t forget that we had a massive lead and we lost it. It’s a very competitive season, a very long season.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “This is an important moment for us psychologically because we knew we had to win the game on Monday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “Mentally we knew we had to win it. We did that and now we have to continue concentrating on the job. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“It gives us the confidence we need for the last two games - the Newcastle game is like a final for us now, and we have to win it.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Manager Roberto Mancini has steadfastly refused to admit that City had clawed their way back into the title race – he has repeatedly said the title had gone, and even now he is claiming United are favourites to lift the trophy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Silva feels that the tactic has worked perfectly, as it lifted any remaining expectation from the shoulders of the players and has helped them scorch to four successive wins and regain top spot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> “Perhaps Roberto has deflected the pressure from us by saying the title is over,” said Silva.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> “He has certainly taken the pressure off the players which always helps because the pressure is always there between United and City.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “Him taking the pressure off the players has really helped. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“We were in front, then they were in front and now we are tying with Manchester United and are playing to win the title “</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">There was never a point when we totally gave up on the league but we did get to a point when we knew it was very difficult. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“All we could do was keep working and get three points after three points and now we are here – but we have to finish the job.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “In the dressing room you could see Mancini was delighted. He told us that we played a great match, that we all played great. But he also reminded us that we must concentrate on next Sunday.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Top player </span></b></u></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Silva has marked himself out as one of the world's top players, but his only serious silverware is cup winner's medals in Spain and England. He picked up a World Cup winner's medal with Spain in 2010 but sat on the bench for the final.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> And, perhaps with that in mind, he says that the victory over United could be the biggest win of his career, as long as they can follow it with wins over Newcastle and QPR.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “If we end up winning the title this result, then yes perhaps this could be the most important in my career but we have to win the title for this result to win something,” he said. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“And I hope it can lead to more trophies. Last year we won the FA Cup and qualified for the Champions League.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “This year we are challenging for the title. Let’s see. Hopefully we can win the title. Then next year we can challenge for the Champions League.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">There had been speculation that Silva might have been dropped for the clash with United, but Mancini boldly fielded him as part of his attacking quartet, along with Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> That put the Blues on the front foot, while United went into the game with a defensive mindset as Sir Alex Ferguson flooded the midfield. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">But Silva said he was not taken aback by United's lack of ambition: “I cant say I was surprised that United were set up so defensively.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “This is football. You have a tactical plan and you should stick to it. On this particular occasion it didn’t work for them.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">City have now done the league double over their neighbours for only the second time in 38 years, but can turn local bragging rights into national superiority by winning the next two games. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">But Silva was adamant that City should not be defined by their relation to United, in victory or defeat, and that the Blues have moved out of the Red shadow. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“We are ready to win the title,” he said. “We don’t concentrate on United. We concentrate on ourselves. We beat them at their place, and we beat them at ours."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“We know how we want to play, and we know where we want to be."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “Don’t get me wrong – United are a great team, a fantastic team, and they’ve been winning titles for a long time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “But we don’t need to think about United. We’ve passed that mental stage now and we believe we can win the title.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>Saad ahmedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14755484994880977078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69191809571646014.post-75573752366718271132012-04-21T06:45:00.002-07:002012-05-01T04:31:41.574-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-large;"><b><i><u>LATEST NEWS</u></i></b></span><br />
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<u style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 36px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b>Manchester derby: City defeated United 1-0 to top the table</b></u><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">City held their nerve and completed the double </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">over United to re-take top spot in Premier </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">League.</span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Now if Roberto Mancini’s men match United in the last two games the</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> likelihood is that they will be crowned champions for the first time in </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">44 years.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The points and possibly the destination of the title were decided, </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">fittingly, by </span><a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Defenders/Vincent-Kompany" style="background-color: white; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Vincent Kompany’s</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">towering first half header.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizo-m_BG9KSNRjcht4EthosGDol2C1zTP-Dm5jAqUVChHWNTLjfKOshw7Rgv-trFA2d8UnxxBHD49O6bn1MFUjpnudOx8llGNgWL6AwqVPXMxeMG-_3g70AFw9Lj_MHHW4F7vFucQzOXM/s1600/mancity1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizo-m_BG9KSNRjcht4EthosGDol2C1zTP-Dm5jAqUVChHWNTLjfKOshw7Rgv-trFA2d8UnxxBHD49O6bn1MFUjpnudOx8llGNgWL6AwqVPXMxeMG-_3g70AFw9Lj_MHHW4F7vFucQzOXM/s400/mancity1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Depending on where you do your reading this coruscating episode of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">neighbours was watched by between 300 and 600million sets of eyes</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">and worth between £200 and £500million.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">The mother of all derbies, the demolition derby, titanic, epic, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">landscape-changing, momentous, tumultuous, gripping, huge, colossal </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">were just some of the scores of adjectives used to describe the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">game in the wall-to-wall build-up.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">So did it live up to the hype? How could any match live up to such </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">lofty expectations? But right now City fans don’t care.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">All the ingredients were there. There was some serious retro anger </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">and enmity in the stands, the noise levels exceeded all decent limits </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">set by the local authority and a galaxy of stars strutted the verdant </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">green stage as if they owned it.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0L7vLjJzhDjl5YniaPrjId40oEAg0obYCV9ESJmdTJiaq6oEiDUQ6TYuGLg_ggo5sKYJlEMBHp1im0vg9rKkL4vuizstCTc0Dfi4Hmm5Qo12TNjL7PHheP1G_QjbY9N4rRVa__v9OiuI/s1600/mancity2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0L7vLjJzhDjl5YniaPrjId40oEAg0obYCV9ESJmdTJiaq6oEiDUQ6TYuGLg_ggo5sKYJlEMBHp1im0vg9rKkL4vuizstCTc0Dfi4Hmm5Qo12TNjL7PHheP1G_QjbY9N4rRVa__v9OiuI/s400/mancity2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">But by and large neither side found the fluency, touch and killer </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">instinct that hard earned City the best home record in the Premier </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">League and United the best away record.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">In front of the game’s great and good, the Etihad Stadium rocked like </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">it has never done before. This was English tribalism at its most raw.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;"> Every blue and red sinew was strained in a bid to deliver the victory </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">that the rival factions packed into the stands demanded.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">Football purity was not on the invitee list to this most local of parties </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">beamed to a global audience that may well have been bemused and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">amused in equal measure by the bile and the ditties echoing around </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">the stadium and duelling for attention.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">Neither manager sprang any real surprises with their starting elevens. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;"><a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Management/Roberto-Mancini" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Roberto Mancini</a>stuck to the side that <a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/citytv/Match-highlights/2012/April/Wolves-v-City-extended-highlights" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">won at Wolves</a> so resisting the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">temptation to bring back his blond bombshell <a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Strikers/Mario-Balotelli" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Mario Balotelli</a>. Instead </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">the Italian striker who began the <a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/citytv/Match-highlights/2011/October/United-v-City-extended-highlights-23-Oct" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">six-goal avalanche at Old Trafford </a></span><a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/citytv/Match-highlights/2011/October/United-v-City-extended-highlights-23-Oct" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">back in October</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">was on the bench.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">Alex Ferguson, who knew a draw would be to his side’s advantage in </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">the race for the crown, took a cautious approach. He left most of his </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">attacking arsenal on the bench asking Wayne Rooney to carry the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">goal threat.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">His plan worked a treat in the opening 44 minutes with United content </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">to block avenues and sit back inviting the home side to find a way </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">through if they could.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9y39lbQE_Z73o5it9vfHQez7CtTmQ1_ujC5OWuoB-Hi1Dk5viHj3J-T-HjhEkoeJzr8RFQOd6C7r0-wKs9Um3eAkk2Bd6GpdXhfXeBL87TpozULCOUgRwbKTwB0VfawPdx61f8EQgd00/s1600/mancity3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9y39lbQE_Z73o5it9vfHQez7CtTmQ1_ujC5OWuoB-Hi1Dk5viHj3J-T-HjhEkoeJzr8RFQOd6C7r0-wKs9Um3eAkk2Bd6GpdXhfXeBL87TpozULCOUgRwbKTwB0VfawPdx61f8EQgd00/s400/mancity3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">In truth despite the best efforts of the fans, the impressive <a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Midfielders/Samir-Nasri" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Samir</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;"><a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Midfielders/Samir-Nasri" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Nasri</a> and two chances fired wide by <a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Strikers/Sergio-Aguero" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Kun Aguero</a>, watched by his </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">father-in-law Diego Maradona , it was tepid stuff. Tepid, that is, until </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">Kompany rose like the colossus he is to head home from David </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">Silva’s right flank corner.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">The second half was always going to be more open </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">and the goal </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">brought an improvement in City’s confidence levels and passing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">United brought on Danny Welbeck and the whole game had a dollop </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">more purpose and poise.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">DeGea kicked away a <a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Midfielders/Yaya-Toure" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Yaya Toure</a> effort as the intensity grew. The </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">Blues looked at their best - and the Reds at their most vulnerable – </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">when they ran at the visitors from deep.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">But <a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Strikers/Carlos-Tevez" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Carlos Tevez</a> ran out of steam which necessitated a change of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">formation with <a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Midfielders/Nigel-de-Jong" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Nigel De Jong</a> deployed to stifle United’s sudden attack </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">intent and Toure pushed up to support Aguero.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">The last ten minutes were open and angry. The managers had a less </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">than edifying spat on the touchline but still City pressed for the second </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">clinching goal and Toure went close with a shot from the edge of the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">box that skimmed the post.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">Now everyone has to forget this win and concentrate on Newcastle </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">because nothing less than two wins is likely to be good enough. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">No </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">more twists please!</span></div>
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<u style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 29px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><b>CITY TAKE TOP SPOT WITH DERBY TRIUMPH</b></span></u><br />
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<img alt="Vincent Kompany Manchester City - 0" height="207" src="http://d.yimg.com/i//ng/sp/eurosport/20120430/25/43b81b89cb17cfd599bfe5ed890124c0.jpg" width="400" />
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Vincent Kompany<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">'s header in first-half injury time decided the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium and sent </span>Manchester City<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"> to the top of the Premier League table, ahead of United on goal difference, with just two games remaining.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">The much-hyped derby encounter, described as the biggest match in the history of the Premier League, was not the spectacle that many had hoped for but the local rivals still produced an absorbing encounter that a more adventurous City deservedly edged when Kompany was left free to head home from a </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">David Silva</span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">cross.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">United needed only a draw to retain top spot and, with fixtures against Swansea and Sunderland to come, almost certainly secure a 20th Premier League title. However, Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to deploy an unadventurous five-man midfield backfired as an emasculated United created little of note at a stadium where City have now won 17 of 18 league games this season.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">As Ferguson became involved in a touchline row with <a href="http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/roberto-mancini.html" style="text-decoration: none;">Roberto Mancini</a> on a deeply frustrating evening for the title-holders, the pretenders to the throne continued to exert control and after a frantic conclusion held on for a victory that puts them within touching distance of a first league title since 1968.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Wins in City's final two games - away at Newcastle and home to QPR - will now give Mancini's side the title, usurp United at the top of English football and signal a definitive shift in the balance of power in a city that has been characterised by red dominance for decades.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">After a limp performance, and a failure to have a solitary shot on target in 90 minutes, United may reflect that a timid team selection proved their undoing on a night when they surrendered top spot, and possibly city supremacy, with a whimper.</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>Manchester City 1 - Manchester United 0</u></b><br />
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<img alt="Vincent Kompany scores for Manchester City" height="220" src="http://m.gmgrd.co.uk/res/972.$plit/C_71_article_1492545_image_list_image_list_item_0_image.jpg?30%2F04%2F2012%2020%3A35%3A33%3A423" width="400" />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Vincent Kompany scores for Manchester City</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Manchester City went top of the Premier League after defeating derby rivals Manchester United in an intense clash at the Etihad Stadium. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Skipper Vincent Kompany scored a thumping header in first-half injury time to put the Blues ahead on goal difference in the title race with two games remaining.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Tensions threatened to spill over after the break with managers Roberto Mancini and Sir Alex Ferguson exchancing angry words on the touchline. But City held on for a famous victory.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Manchester City's </span>meeting with Manchester United at Etihad Stadium on Monday<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> is the hottest ticket in town - with the Premier League title as the potential prize.</span></span></b>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">History tells us it is highly unusual for the top two to meet so late in the season with so much riding on the outcome but this has been a highly unusual season.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Sir Alex Ferguson wants that 20th title desperately by keeping City at bay, while others may see Roberto Mancini's team going on to dominate domestically for years to come if they can get that first Premier League under their belt. Has there ever been a bigger Premier League game than this?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">In reality City should have had the title sewn up weeks ago in the manner they were playing and the results they were getting. And yet a stumbling run of form away from home gave United a lifeline they were only too grateful to accept to go into an eight-point lead only a couple of weeks ago.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The biggest surprise of all is that Ferguson's side - so expert in closing out these deals in the past - have handed the lifeline back to them by losing at Wigan Athletic, then giving up a two-goal lead in the closing minutes against Everton at Old Trafford last Sunday.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City may have momentum after three wins againstWest Bromwich Albion, Norwich City and Wolves but I would still rather be in United's position going into this game.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Ferguson's side still have a three-point advantage, so a draw would satisfy them a lot more than City and, unlike their closest rivals, they do not have to go to Newcastle United, a trip not too many would approach with confidence at the moment.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Of course, this being the sort of season it is, you would not bet against further twists and turns even in the final two games. It seems it is destined to go right to the end and United's trip to Sunderland on the last day is no easy job.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Mancini has said publicly that the title race has been over ever since City lost at Arsenal - you suspect he will be saying something a lot different in the privacy of the dressing room.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City will be sitting in there before the game looking at each other and thinking: "If we play well we will win this." This is always a very comforting feeling to have.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">United, though, are old hands at this and have experience and quality when you look at people like Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney, who have been there and done it many times before.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Since that defeat at Emirates Stadium, City have played with renewed freedom,especially in scoring six at Norwich Cityafter the Canaries came off the back of a superb win at Tottenham.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Is this because they felt they had nothing more to lose or because they felt the pressure was off as they had finally lost the title race? No-one will know for sure but the pressure is back on them now because suddenly the prize is in sight again.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">On recent evidence the key element will be how United's defence copes with City's attack. City have hit that rich vein of scoring form again while United defended abysmally against Everton - although it should be stressed their performances at the back over the recent period have been very good.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">And then we come to the Carlos Tevez factor. For so long on the outside looking in at City, with all the acrimony that appeared to accompany that, he is back and doing what he does best.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">I never bought into all the talk that he would never play for the club again after it was claimed he refused to warm up as a substitute in the Champions League defeat against Bayern Munich in Germany.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; line-height: 1.35;">As long as a player is of use to a football club, and is there at the club, there is always the possibility he will play again - especially if he is of Tevez's quality. And so it has proved, with his performances giving them extra impetus in these crucial final weeks of the season.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">When you see him during games he has a great work ethic, sets a great example, and can influence important games. Players will look at him and think that, if he is prepared to put in so much work, they should as well. It sets this good example and makes it much easier to reintegrate someone after a period of disharmony than if they are selfish and not bothered about their team-mates.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Tevez's game is usually raised against his old club anyway, but such is the importance of the match on Monday, he will be vital for City if they are to get the win they need.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">I would rather be in United's position than City - but what an opportunity for Mancini's men after their Premier League title race looked to be over a couple of weeks ago.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: large; text-align: left;"><u>Manchester City v Manchester United like we have never known </u></span><u style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.154; text-align: left;">before</u></b></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Andy Morrison tells a story about the old Manchester City that in its own small way demonstrates what a difference there is between the club we see now and what they used to represent back in the days when the paint was peeling, the curtains trembled and a tired old club took a good long look at Nowheresville.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Morrison was captain of the team that helped City clamber out of the third tier in 1999, built like a nightclub bouncer and often acting like one, too. He was a cult hero and when he was released from his contract in 2002 he was invited on the pitch to wave goodbye to the crowd before a match against Crystal Palace. He took his son, Arron, and daughter, Brooke. City filmed the moment so he could have a DVD of the memories and Morrison's voice cracked with emotion as he was passed the microphone and the crowd rose to their feet.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">A few weeks later he sat down to watch it for the first time. Except when he pressed play it was not himself he could see. He could hear his speech but the camera was focused on the Palace players warming up. One guy, in particular: black, skinny, cropped hair, tramlines shaven into his eyebrows. A decade on Morrison can just about laugh about it now. "If Clinton Morrison ever wants a DVD of himself doing keepie-ups, I'm your man."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Typical City, as we used to say back in the days when it was Macclesfield, not <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchester-united" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Manchester United">Manchester United</a>, who counted as the local derby and Sir Alex Ferguson and his players were almost a taboo subject. "Staff at Maine Road seldom mention Manchester's other team these days," Mark Hodkinson wrote in Blue Moon, his account of City's tumultuous 1998-99 season through the puddles and potholes of third-tier football. "Both literally and metaphorically, they accept that United are in a different league." City were failure, debt and Joy Division pessimism. United were glory, prestige and football, bloody hell.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">What we have now, with City taking on United on Monday night with the championship potentially at stake, is so different that one wonders whether the next generation of City supporters will ever truly appreciate what it was like back in the days when the club were so skint the players had to pay for their own boots and there was no hot water in the training-ground dressing rooms for 16 months.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The club of Pollock, Dibble and Brannan has become the stable of Silva, Agüero and Tevez. Roberto Mancini's press conference on Saturday was so packed he suggested they should have sold tickets. There were questions from Italy, Sweden and Canada and, afterwards, a bottleneck of cars trying to get back on to the M60. A decade ago it was two or three of us sitting in Joe Royle's office in Platt Lane while a regular group of drunks used to congregate on the corner and shout abuse at the players through the fencing. Royle had a drinks coaster in the design of a panic button. "Press here," it said.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Ferguson largely regarded City as an afterthought in those days. "Not any longer," Mancini responded during one conversation spent trying to explain how much Ferguson used to enjoy making fun at their expense. Like the first few weeks of the City of Manchester Stadium when Ferguson leant back in his chair and asked a roomful of football writers what it was like at "the Temple of Doom". Or the times when Paul Hince, an old-school Mancunian who was on City's books in the 1960s, turned up at press conferences in his role as chief sports writer of the Manchester Evening News. Ferguson would regularly rebut questions by asking whether Hince was all right, did he need some paracetamol, should he call a psychiatrist. You get the idea.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The jokes have been replaced by a new sense of respect now, even if MUTV's presenters do refer to City as "noisy neighbours" as a matter of routine. At Old Trafford they like to point out how City are still learning about what it takes to be a big club and, to a degree, they have a point. Little things like Mancini's players icing "6-1" into their Christmas cake. Or City printing a commemorative-edition programme when the teams met in the 2010 Carling Cup semi-final.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">But the dynamics have changed. Mancini, empowered by a series of supportive phone calls from Sheikh Mansour, talked at the weekend of wanting to create a dynasty. For Abu Dhabi it is not about a single league title; this is a full-scale operation to shift the balance of power. "We don't just want one championship," Mancini said. "I want to leave a legacy. That's how I want all the City supporters to remember me. I could be wrong but I think Manchester City are set up now to win many trophies in the future. That has to be the target."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Ferguson, in turn, has had to start taking City seriously. The people who know Ferguson best say he was far more shaken by October's 6-1 thrashing than he will ever probably admit. Mancini did not notice it as they clinked glasses an hour after the final whistle — "We talked about red wine," he recalls. "I have big respect for him but I wasn't embarrassed" — but Ferguson's guests at his 25th anniversary dinner 12 days later could see he was still struggling to get it out of his system. For years Ferguson had always left off City when going through the list of United's rivals. It was always, in order, Liverpool, Arsenal and Leeds. Now he admits they have overtaken Liverpool as "our direct opponents". Which might constitute only one small line but it is one he has never said before. That alone makes it significant.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">In his defence Ferguson will say he has never had to. This is the strange thing about Manchester's sporting enmity. Look through the history of these two clubs and there are actually very few occasions when they have been competing for trophies at the same time. For long spells United and City have simply had other priorities.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"If you look at the successful United team in the 1950s, their great rivals at the time were actually Wolves," Gary James, the author of Manchester – A Football History, says. "Then you go back to City's success in the 1930s and their biggest games were against Arsenal. In fact, City-Arsenal would get bigger crowds than City-United games."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">This is not to ignore the finale to the 1967-68 season, the only other time the Manchester clubs have gone head-to-head for domestic supremacy, when City won 3-1 and pipped United to the title by two points. That, however, took place on 27 March, with nine games to follow. Ferguson, in other words, was right when he suggested the 163rd Manchester derby would be the biggest ever staged.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The truth is there is not really any great competition. Which is why United's rivalry with Liverpool qualifies for "Mad For It", Andy Mitten's 2008 analysis of the world's biggest derby matches, but there is so little history connected to the all-Manchester encounters the author chooses to leave them out. "For much of the time," Mitten, a United supporter, explains, "the Manchester derby has been parochial, a one-sided anti-climax not fit to be compared with the great derbies."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Mitten's book was published a few months before the Abu Dhabi United Group entered the equation. "It has changed now," he concedes. "Monday will be the planet's biggest game in club football so far this season." Not just because of what it means at the top of the Premier League but also because of its bearing on the coming years.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Gary Neville had it spot on: "Imagine what it would mean to Manchester City if they could win and go on to win the league? It would give the club and their players the sense of entitlement, confidence and belief that only comes with winning a title. But imagine if they lost. Imagine if, having got back into the title race, they see United win the title at their own ground. That would only reinforce United's sense of superiority and City's feeling that they might never get one over their old rivals. I was a United player for 18 years but I never took part in a domestic game of this magnitude."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Neville has previously told a story in his autobiography, relating to a calamitous 3-1 derby defeat for United in 2002, that makes it seem as if Ferguson might care more about City than he used to let on. That day the beaten players walked into the dressing room with City shirts slung over their shoulders and Ferguson erupted. "You don't give those shirts away. Ever! They're Manchester United's shirts, not yours. You treasure those shirts. If I see anyone giving a shirt away, they won't be playing for me again."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">There was another meltdown, this time in victory, after Michael Owen's stoppage-time winner at Old Trafford in 2009. A City employee in a club blazer was stood in the tunnel area and Ferguson launched into a tirade about the Carlos Tevez 'Welcome to Manchester' poster.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">These are the dynamics when two clubs grumpily share the same oxygen. After the last game, January's FA Cup tie, City had to remove the behind-the-scenes footage they had put on their website showing the players lining up in the tunnel before kick-off. The reason was simple: at the front of the queue, one of the mascots could be overheard asking Aleksandar Kolarov: "Will you break Wayne Rooney's legs for me?" Twice, in fact. His father, it transpired, had also passed on instructions to "kick Fergie in the bollocks". Which, if nothing else, would have made an interesting what-I did-this-weekend project for school.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Generally speaking, though, City are no longer so uptight and embittered about what is happening on the other side of town. In the hospitality suites it is red tomato ketchup on the chips rather than the blue stuff that was served in those days when any victory, no matter how petty, would do. There is no longer a ban on staff having red company cars, just a choice of whether they want a BMW or Jaguar. Or if you're the football administrator Brian Marwood, a chauffeur to ferry him around Manchester.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Mancini made the point that 80 points, with three games to spare, would ordinarily have been enough to guarantee the league. This summer they want to sign Robin van Persie and Eden Hazard, and those are just the ones we know about. One day, they still like to believe, Wayne Rooney might be tempted across Manchester. To this day City are convinced that Rooney wanted to join when he submitted his transfer request in 2010. "Strengthen yourself, weaken your rivals," as one senior City figure explained at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">One member of staff at Old Trafford showed off his fingernails this week and they were bitten to the quick. A colleague, he said, had started smoking again. At City, meanwhile, one veteran of the Typical City days was also fretting. "We'll beat United, go top of the table, then lose the next game at Newcastle." Whatever happens, Manchester's football clubs are entering a new phase of rivalry, bigger and better than ever before.</span></div>
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<u style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Manchester United vs. Manchester City to be a Monday </span></u><br />
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<span style="color: #1a2732; font-size: 14px;">T</span><span style="color: #3d85c6;">he English Premier League race has come to this: First-place Manchester United vs. second-place Manchester City in a derby match that has TV executives and fans salivating. Man U leads cross-town rival City by three points with three games remaining, so Monday night’s winner at Etihad Stadium will be in excellent position to take the league title. The match will be televised on this side of the pond at 2:55 p.m. on ESPN.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City has a superior goal differential — 60-54 — in part because of its shocking 6-1 victory over the Red Devils at Old Trafford in their first league matchup in October. That was United’s worst home loss since 1955 and the first time the club conceded six goals at home since 1930.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The “small club with big talk,” as United manager Sir <span class="bold" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Alex Ferguson</span> once called City, the team he referred to as the “noisy neighbors who keep the radio on all the time,” has become his team’s bona-fide archrival.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">“We have to get used to playing City in important games. They are not going away,” Ferguson said Thursday. “The financial support they have means we will be playing them in a lot of big games.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">“We will be playing them in cup finals and semifinals. We have already done that last season and, if we are going to be contesting for league titles regularly, then this will become just as important as the Liverpool game. Certainly in importance, probably at this moment in time, it supersedes the Liverpool games in the sense that City are our direct opponents now.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">United won two of its three meetings this season — the Community Shield opener 3-2 last August at Wembley Stadium and an FA Cup match 3-2 in January.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Asked if he enjoyed the challenge of facing City again, Ferguson said: “I am a confirmed masochist — I joined the club about 26 years ago. I do not know if you thrive on it, can’t even say I can look forward to it. But I am up for it, I am prepared for it and I think my players will be prepared for it. So, hopefully, we will be OK.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">United will have to contain City’s leading scorer <span class="bold" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sergio “Kun” Aguero</span>, the 23-year-old Argentine forward. Aguero is the EPL’s third-leading scorer with 22 goals, behind Arsenal’s <span class="bold" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Robin van Perse</span> (27), and United’s <span class="bold" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Wayne Rooney</span> (26). The striker got his nickname as a child because his favorite cartoon character was “Kun Kun.” Aguero is married to <span class="bold" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Giannina Maradona</span>, the youngest daughter of Argentine legend <span class="bold" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Diego Maradona</span>. They have a 3-year-old son.</span></div>
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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/29/2773243/manchester-united-vs-manchester.html#storylink=cpy</div>
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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/29/2773243/manchester-united-vs-manchester.html#storylink=cpy</div>
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<u style="background-color: initial; color: red; font-family: LeagueGothic, Haettenschweiler, Impact, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large; line-height: 40px; text-align: left;">Sir Alex Ferguson admits to </u><u style="background-color: initial; font-family: LeagueGothic, Haettenschweiler, Impact, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large; line-height: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">MANCHESTER CITY</span></u><u style="background-color: initial; color: red; font-family: LeagueGothic, Haettenschweiler, Impact, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large; line-height: 40px; text-align: left;"> </u><u style="background-color: initial; color: red; font-family: LeagueGothic, Haettenschweiler, Impact, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large; line-height: 40px; text-align: left;">terror</u></div>
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<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">SIR Alex Ferguson has admitted for the first time Manchester City is his biggest rival in English football as he prepares for Tuesday's make-or-break Premier League game at Etihad Stadium.</span></strong></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">The Manchester United manager has always maintained during City's recent rise to prominence that he still viewed traditional rival Liverpool as the main threat.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">He once dismissed the newly rich club as "noisy neighbours".</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">But as he looked ahead to the potential title decider at City's ground, Ferguson warned his club's supporters there would be many more titanic battles against Roberto Mancini's team.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"We have to get used to playing City in important games. They are not going away," Ferguson said. "The financial support they have means we will be playing them in a lot of big games.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"We will be playing them in cup finals and semi-finals. We have already done that last season and, if we are going to be contesting for league titles regularly, then this will become just as important as the Liverpool game.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"Certainly in importance, probably at this moment in time, it supersedes the Liverpool games in the sense that City are our direct opponents now.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"Manchester City are without question up against us to win titles and that is what I focus on. This game could decide the title."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Ferguson stressed it was still hugely emotional when playing Liverpool but it was clear beating City to the title would bring enormous satisfaction.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Asked if he enjoyed the challenge, Ferguson said: "I am a confirmed masochist - I joined the club about 26 years ago. I do not know if you thrive on it, can't even say I can look forward to it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"But I am up for it, I am prepared for it and I think my players will be prepared for it so, hopefully, we will be OK."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">United leads City by three points with three games to play, but City has a superior goal difference.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Ferguson, whose side was a seemingly unbeatable eight points in front only a few weeks ago, reported no new injury worries ahead of a cross-town clash that was tipped to be of huge significance when the fixture list was published.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"I suppose when the fixture came out at the start of the season, all roads pointed to this game. It was inevitable, really," Ferguson said.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"We're smarting from throwing that game away last week, but in the context of our history we have always expected it."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">City embarrassed United 6-1 at Old Trafford in the league this season, but Ferguson insisted that would count for nothing on Tuesday.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Mancini, who has spent millions of pounds assembling a team capable of winning the league, last week said United would win the title.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Ferguson said: "He probably wants to take pressure off his own players.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">"We know the exact situation we're in. We're in a better position than Man City. We can draw, but my attitude will be trying to win."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><u>No fear: Manchester City skipper Vincent Kompany calm and focused ahead of derby clash</u></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">The Manchester derby is now the second biggest league game in the world, with only the Spanish rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona pipping it.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> But City skipper Vincent Kompany will chill out in the build-up to the game with a bit of French politics, a dash of Brazilian literature and a bit of studying towards a business degree.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> The erudite Belgian kicks against the stereotype of a footballer – until he gets on the field, when he is a Rolls Royce of a defender, all strength, control, intelligence and vision, as well as being an uncompromising competitor. </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">So when he talks of Monday night’s derby as a global phenomenon, he does it matter-of-fact. He is thrilled to be playing in it, delighted to again be tangling with Wayne Rooney, who he rates as one of the world’s top strikers. </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">And as a student of the game, as well as of politics and literature, and a man who has embarked on a business administration course, he knows plenty about the history of the Manchester derby.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “ I know what it means to the people and it's impossible not to know the history,” he said. “Before you join the club you find out about the victories and I guess it has become, after El Clasico, the biggest game in the world in a league competition.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “We see Mike Summerbee a lot and he never misses an occasion to tell us what happened in the past! Not just about the derbies, but everything.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “From the 1968 game, Mike just explains to us how great a celebration it was after they won the title, just the feelings you get.”</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> The run-up to this derby has been amazing, says Kompany, with people mentioning it at every turn.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “I can't remember meeting anyone in the last three or four days who didn't talk to me about it,” he said. “But I go back to the reasons why I love football so much and this is one of the reasons. </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">“It's not a fear of playing the game, just an eager feeling to get to the stadium and get it started.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> “It’s the phone calls as well - not just from here, as well, but from China, America, all over – it’s ridiculous the amount of people who are into this game. You can’t imagine. “This game has become much bigger than the locals because City supporters in Indonesia will have to face the United supporters in Indonesia, lose or win, so it’s much bigger than just about Manchester.” </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Kompany studiously avoids anything that can be construed as 'mind games', something for which he has little time, and which he says will have little bearing come eight o’clock on Monday.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “I don’t want to get involved in those mental wars because they are not related to what you say but to what you do on the pitch,” he said. </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">“I can tell you now there is nothing in the papers that will have an influence on our performance. “The managers probably read the papers more than anyone else so they probably think it’s important, but for the player s none of it will influence our performance.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “You can fight it out as much as you want in the papers, but for me it’s just all about that game on Monday. </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">“You guys in the media can talk about it, and both managers can talk about it, but I am putting my boots on and playing that game.” </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Not surprisingly, he has nothing negative to say about United, brushing off the notion that their recent form might show they are nervous, or that this is not a particularly good Reds vintage. </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">“I remember United winning the Champions League and the Premier League in 2008, and people said that about that team,” he said with a smile.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “What does vintage mean? You get judged by what you win. They did that double in 2008 and people said it wasn’t a vintage team, but they gave those moments to their fans.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “It’s the same now with Chelsea going into the final of the Champions League. Ultimately it’s about what you win – there’s no point in being a vintage team if you don’t win anything. Stats speak, and those are facts.” </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">And he says United’s defeat at Wigan and slip-up at home to Everton are nothing to do with their flakiness: “I think it shows it's a difficult league. That's no secret.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “We've had a great season so far, but we didn't lose points just because we played badly, I thought we lost points because other teams played well and they were difficult to play against. I think the same thing happened to United.” </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">Kompany has the utmost respect for Rooney, who has long been a thorn in City’s side, and the Blues skipper hints that he wants to be going head to head with the striker for many years to come.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “It’s great to play against him,” he said. “I like it and hopefully we will be playing against each other for a long time because it’s always a great battle.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"> “He is one of the best strikers in the world, no doubt about that, and usually it’s a very strong game, and we have played each other so many times. </span></span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">“I enjoy that in a game. It’s not just about the two of us, but it’s nice to play against those top players. “He has all the qualities of the top strikers – he is quick, powerful and is a goalscorer. He is also a leader for his team, and that makes him a special player.</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> “That makes it so much more enjoyable for me. I don’t think things should come easy – if it’s difficult, that makes winning even better.” </span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">But City have their own world-class strikers, and the script is almost written for Carlos Tevez to be the star against his former club, and by way of redemption for the Blues. </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">And Kompany says that Tevez has prepared for this game like it is the biggest he has ever played – not that it is anything new. </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;">“I can only say one thing about Carlos – the great thing about him is that he does seem to approach every single game like it is the most important game of his life,” he said.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> “He did it against Wolves, he did it against Norwich, and he will do it against United. He is like a guaranteed performer – that’s what you get from him. “But I will be very surprised if there is any player not up to the same level of motivation.”</span><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u><span style="font-size: large;">Manchester City and Manchester United take aim at the derby</span></u></span></span><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Sir Alex Ferguson has labelled Monday’s Manchester derby the biggest in his 25 years at Old Trafford. Roberto Mancini is still trying to convince everyone that it doesn’t mean anything. But with a Premier League title on the line as well as the usual derby day bragging rights, the Etihad Stadium showdown is the most significant cross-city clash since West Gorton St Marks first met Newton Heath in 1881. Rob Dawson has ten reasons why...</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b> PIVOTAL </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Has there ever been more riding on a Manchester derby? A 3-1 win at Old Trafford helped City chase down Sir Matt Busby’s European Champions to win the league in 1968. In 1974, Denis Law thought he’d relegated United with a cheeky back-heel. Last season, 86,000 fans watched City win an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. But the winner at the Etihad Stadium on Monday will have the Premier League title in their hands with two games to go. Never has the prize been so big. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>PRESTIGE</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> While debate rages over whether the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A or the Bundesliga is the best in the world, one thing is certain - English football is the most marketable. It creates a revenue in excess of £1bn and games are shown in more than 575 million homes in 211 countries and territories. United have become one of the richest clubs in the world thanks to the global appeal generated from being successful in the world’s most profitable league. The Premier League champions bank more than £16m in prize money but the prestige attached to the trophy is far, far greater.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> <b>44 YEARS OF HURT</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> It’s been a long time since City last won the league championship. But not only have they had to deal with watching United win it time and time again, they’ve also had to endure trips to Macclesfield, Stockport and Mansfield while they were looking on. Far-flung away-trips on miserable Tuesday nights in Division Two are worn as a badge of honour by many City fans and rightly so. It’s why there’s a banner at the Etihad Stadium that reads ‘True Faith’. The faith would repaid in full with a derby victory and a first title for 44 years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> <b>20th TITLE</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Fergie moved south from Aberdeen in 1986 on a mission to ‘knock Liverpool off their perch’ and after 25 years he finally did it with a record 19th title last season. But as sweet as number 19 was, it would be matched by a 20th - all but secured with a win in City’s backyard. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>REVENGE </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">City humiliated United at Old Trafford back in October. Losing any game to your neighbours is hard to watch. But looking on as David Silva and Edin Dzeko sprinted towards David de Gea again and again as the City fans bounced up and down in the Poznan would have been enough for some United fans to want to gouge their eyes out. It’s an image that will stay with them forever - whether they want it to or not. Victory over City on Monday isn’t going to wash away the memory of that 6-1 drubbing but ask any United fan whether the title would make up for the nightmare and their answer would undoubtedly be ‘yes’. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Manchester derbies don’t need added spice but this one has it in the shape of Carlos Tevez. A Premier League and Champions League winner with United, he moved across the city in 2009. That, and the ‘Welcome to Manchester’ poster on Deansgate, have made him a public enemy in the red half of the city. But he hasn’t exactly endeared himself to the City supporters either after refusing to warm-up in the Allianz Arena and taking a six-month golfing holiday in Argentina. But he’s back, fit and in-form just in time to give Monday’s big showdown that little extra bit of needle.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b> BRAGGING RIGHTS</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Even in the dark days when United and City were winning nothing, the derby was one of the first games fans looked for when the fixtures were published. Do I need to get out of my sister’s wedding so I can watch it? Do I need to book the next day off work? Whether the Manchester derby decides the destination of the title or not, it’s still one of the most eagerly anticipated fixtures. And for many who work with fans of the opposite allegiance, the Tuesday morning bragging rights will be a far greater prize than anything else on offer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b> FINAL FLING</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Monday’s derby could shape the future of both United and City. Roberto Mancini was set the target of winning the Premier League and, despite a vote of confidence from Sheikh Mansour, he still faces a nervous summer if he doesn’t deliver. Fergie, meanwhile, has the luxury of deciding for himself when he calls it a day. It’s unlikely he’ll want to bow out after a season of disappointment in Europe but the 70-year-old might be tempted to go out on a high if he sees off City’s challenge to lift a record 20th title. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>SPLASHING THE CASH</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Whoever is in charge next season, City and United are both expected to spend big in the summer as they prepare for campaigns at home and abroad in 2012/13. Eden Hazard, Edinson Cavani and Fernando Llorente have all been touted as possible targets and both clubs will find it easier to sell themselves to players as the ‘Premier League champions’.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> <b>SUMMER LOVING </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">This summer promises to be a historic one for British sport. England will take on Europe’s best in Poland and the Ukraine, the best golfers in the world will be in the north west at the Open at Royal Lytham and London will host the Olympic Games for the first time since 1948. But United and City supporters won’t be able to enjoy any of it with their red or blue neighbours singing ‘Championees’ every time they step outside. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodfuhD4lXlzM6fRpyXA96STSilvn0UKoEaJGLb3_bwuuMtigTiTm74GqAX4JupEwwcZ7aBse3npBeNApQ3-Nwk5-CFE64hqYu0hnvv2BG_Sbv_XCQ_cHopdQ6_slg-2NiEdyGvM7oqVo/s1600/mancity1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodfuhD4lXlzM6fRpyXA96STSilvn0UKoEaJGLb3_bwuuMtigTiTm74GqAX4JupEwwcZ7aBse3npBeNApQ3-Nwk5-CFE64hqYu0hnvv2BG_Sbv_XCQ_cHopdQ6_slg-2NiEdyGvM7oqVo/s400/mancity1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.16em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.16em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini may recall Mario Balotelli for Monday night's derby versus Manchester United.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The 21-year-old Italian striker has not played since being sent off against Arsenal earlier this month.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">At the time Mancini said the controversial striker would not play for City again this season.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">But he said: "It's difficult to say today if I will recall Balotelli but everyone is available and I will make my choice on Sunday."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Speaking to <span class="text">France Football,</span><span class="external-link-icon" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://static.bbci.co.uk/sport/1.6.6/desktop/styles/img/framework/sprites/gvl3_icons_sprite_sport.png?jcb=1334914046); background-origin: initial; background-position: -766px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline-block; height: 16px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-indent: -16px; top: 1px; width: 18px;"> </span> he added: "Despite some stupid things he has done, Mario has done some important things, like his double strike at Old Trafford this season.</span></div>
<div class="quote-wrapper" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 231, 16); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; border-top-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: -160px; margin-right: 16px; margin-top: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 128px;">
<a class="blq-hide" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17867240#story_continues_2" style="left: -2500px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Continue reading the main story</span></a><br />
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<span class="openquote" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url(http://static.bbci.co.uk/sport/1.6.6/desktop/styles/img/framework/sprites/gvl3_icons_sprite_sport.png?jcb=1334914046); background-origin: initial; background-position: -2111px -115px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: block; height: 25px; text-indent: -999em; width: 30px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“</span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;">It's like a family when a child does stupid things</span><span class="endquote" style="display: block; height: 0px; text-indent: -999em; width: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">”</span></span></div>
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<span class="quote-credit" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 8px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Roberto Mancini</span></span><span class="quote-credit-title" style="display: block; padding-bottom: 8px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Manchester City manager</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"With him anything anything is possible."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Balotelli's dismissal in the 1-0 defeat at the Emirates marked a low point for City. At the time they dropped eight points behind United.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The margin at the top of the Premier League table has since been cut to three but Mancini insists he feels no animosity toward Balotelli. He said: "It's like a family when a child does stupid things.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"The affection of the parents is still there. He's young and he commits big mistakes that can put the team in difficulty, but I still think he has great talent and I hope he will be a City player next season. It's all in his hands."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Meanwhile, City defender Joleon Lescott believes Balotelli has learned from his mistakes. He said: "[Mario] needs to look at his performances and, if he sees he has disappointed the lads, it's great that he's realised that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"He's a young lad, we all make mistakes and it's going to happen. When I was his age I was making mistakes in the Championship and it was going unnoticed."</span></div>
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<u style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.16em;"><b>Manchester City defender Micah Richards says time is right to step out of Manchester United's shadow</b></u></div>
<h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.16em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;">Manchester City defender Micah Richards claims there has "never been a better time" to beat arch rivals Manchester United.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Having come through the City Academy, Richards is all too familiar with the long years the club have spent in their neighbours' shadow.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City are bidding to change all that by wresting the Premier League from United's grasp in the coming weeks and Monday's clash between the two clubs is absolutely vital.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City head into one of the most eagerly anticipated Manchester derbies of all time knowing they can reclaim top spot in the table with two games remaining with a victory.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"Because United have always been better than us and have always had the bragging rights, it just makes it a little bit more special.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"I've played against them since I was part of the Under-14s and they've always been the better at every level.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"We're not quite there yet, though we're slowly, but surely catching up.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"The players who have just come in didn't really know what the derby in Manchester was all about - they're getting it now, though!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"Everyone wants to beat United because it's a huge game and there's never been a better time for this."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City led the table for most of the season but hit a sticky patch in March and their chances seemed over after a defeat at Arsenal earlier this month left them eight points behind.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">That deficit has now been cut to three and, although United still have the initiative, Richards is pleased City are back in control of their own destiny.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The 23-year-old England international said: "If we win it really is in our hands.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"We don't want to get complacent. We went 2-0 up in the Community Shield, we didn't really play well and they came back and won the game.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.48em; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"I want us to put in a real hard-working performance and really deserve to win it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"It's not going to be as easy as everyone thinks, they've been there and done it and they want it as much as we do.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"That's what makes it more interesting. I can't wait and there is a real buzz around the place - it's going to be some game."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Richards, who has shared right-back duties with Pablo Zabaleta this week, is confident of being fit after missing last weekend's win at Wolves with a hamstring problem.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">He said: "Whether I'm going to be involved or not I don't know. I had full training on Wednesday and it was fine."</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 30px; text-align: left;"><u>Mancini tries to play down Manchester derby</u></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 30px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">MANCHESTER: While the British media tries to build up the importance of next week's </span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Manchester-derby" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Manchester derby</a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">, City manager </span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Roberto-Mancini" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Roberto Mancini</a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> is doing his best to play it down. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Manchester-United" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Manchester United</a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> manager </span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Alex-Ferguson" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Alex Ferguson</a> <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">helped set the tone of most coverage when he said the game is effectively a playoff for the</span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Premier-League" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Premier League</a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> title, but Mancini has made a convincing case to the contrary. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mancini has continually pointed out that each team has two games remaining after Monday's match and, with both teams having dropped points over the past few weeks, there could be more twists in the title race. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"The derby is always the game of the year," Mancini said. "For the supporters, a derby is always a different game to the others. It is important for the city. </span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Manchester" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Manchester</a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> has two top teams who are in a position to play this important game. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"But for us it will just be one more game, not because we fight for this or for that. And after it there are another two games, very tough games." </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">True, the rivalry with City does not carry the same animosity or historical significance for United fans that comes with their clashes against </span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Liverpool" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Liverpool</a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> and Leeds. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">United and Liverpool are by some distance England's most successful ever clubs, while the acrimonious rivalry with Leeds even goes beyond sport to a contest for supremacy between counties that stems from an ancient power struggle between royal houses. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">But Mancini is wise not to even attempt to convince City fans that Monday's meeting is "just another game" for them. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">City has long been in United's shadow, even tumbling into the third tier for the first time in its history while United was into its current 20-year streak of success that has taken it to an English record 19 league titles - one more than Liverpool. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">City has just two league titles to its name - the most recent 44 years ago - but last season's FA Cup final win and a 6-1 victory at Old Trafford earlier this season indicates that the balance could be shifting its way. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">That defeat to City was Ferguson's worst against any team in his 26 years in charge of United. Until then, things had gone relatively smoothly for most of his 44 Manchester derbies. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Even setbacks were compensated for, with a 5-1 defeat at Maine Road in 1989 avenged by a 5-0 Old Trafford victory five years later. A 2-1 defeat in the 2010 League Cup semifinals was rendered unimportant by a 3-1 second-leg win the following week. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Only with a 1-0 FA Cup semifinal win for City and October's rout at Old Trafford has United truly faltered under Ferguson against City. </span><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"The one at Old Trafford was a fantastic derby," Mancini said. "But it was a game that can happen only once every hundred years."</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCbAB52ZExaTnK-MV60-3aovs_QWblRhlGRJGDqqG3q9pw1cmBnV2Zyd2rkEDtWnSDMs1sLt4E1uyHkRuDeftm7RXdDOcf5EtnkZrOf6AfEPUd-pTGRCyOidKuhnwShWylTDhsnOa3Hc/s1600/mancity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCbAB52ZExaTnK-MV60-3aovs_QWblRhlGRJGDqqG3q9pw1cmBnV2Zyd2rkEDtWnSDMs1sLt4E1uyHkRuDeftm7RXdDOcf5EtnkZrOf6AfEPUd-pTGRCyOidKuhnwShWylTDhsnOa3Hc/s400/mancity.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.11; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Ex-Manchester City boss Kevin Keegan thinks they will win the Premier League if they win at home against champions Manchester United on Monday.</b><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.35; text-align: -webkit-auto;">A victory would take City above United on goal difference with two games left.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Keegan told BBC Radio Manchester's Blue Tuesday show: "City must win the game. If they win it, they're the favourites.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"I think they will go to Newcastle, tough as it will be, and if they need that result to win the league, they will get that result."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">But he added: "United are still slight favourites because a draw or a win at the Etihad and it's over."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">City led the Premier League title race for almost six months, at one stage taking a five point advantage, before United stormed back to lead by eight points earlier this month.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">However, the champions have dropped points in two of their last three games and now lead their rivals from across Manchester by only three points.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"At Christmas, I thought City were certs," Keegan said. "I couldn't see Manchester United getting back into it. Then a couple of weeks ago, I thought City had blown it. It's been a really interesting season and one where you're scared to try to make predictions."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Keegan does not expect the Red Devils to play defensively on Monday in a bid to earn a point and keep the title race in their own hands.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"I'd be surprised if they make changes," he said. "Manchester United will come and play."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">And the former England manager believes that if City win the league, there may be more to follow.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"There are still a lot of City players who haven't really won things, but that can soon change," he said.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"City won a cup [last season's FA Cup] and it was important to get one trophy in. I know from my Liverpool days, once you win a league, the second and third seem to come along. There's no fear there anymore.</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>Yaya Toure hopes Manchester City take 'surprise' second chance</u></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">MANCHESTER City have been handed an unexpected second chance – and they intend to take it in what should be an “unbelievable” derby next week.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> And Blues star Yaya Toure hinted that fate might be on City’s side after the Reds’ implosion against Everton, which was greeted with happy incredulity by the City squad as they made their way to Molineux on the coach. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“We have a second chance and I hope we take it because it is very important for us,” said Yaya, who scored the winner in last season’s FA Cup semi-final win over the Reds.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “That is why I came to City, to make history with the club, and for us to win this competition would be fantastic.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “I'm quite shocked because for United to drop points at home like that is quite surprising, but it made it a fantastic day for City with them dropping points and us winning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “It was quite unbelievable but we have to settle down and continue to work hard as they still have three points more than us.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> City have been dominant at home this season, winning 16 and drawing one of their games at the Etihad, the best record in the top 16 divisions of English football.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> But United’s away record of 12 wins, three draws and two defeats is the best performance by any team on their travels in those top 16 divisions, which ramps up the magnitude of this clash.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “We have to play them at home and if you look at the record of United, they are very strong away and it will be a very difficult test for us,” said Yaya.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “I think this year the club need to win the trophy and it will be difficult. But we need to win this derby because it will be one of our most important games.” </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">While Yaya was not about to disrespect the Reds, he hinted that perhaps their result against Everton, and the defeat at Wigan which helped to spark City’s amazing fightback, indicate that they are not the ruthless power they once were.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “Years ago, United were so strong,” he said. “They are still strong, you have to say that because they are first in the table, but sometimes you can make a mistake - United made that mistake on Sunday and we have taken advantage. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“We are keeping going, we are working hard to create our chance to win this trophy.” </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The semi-final victory at Wembley was hailed by many as the biggest derby in history – certainly by many Blues - as it potentially marked a watershed in the balance of power between the neighbours. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">For most of the season, that has been borne out, with City taking inspiration from the victory, and subsequent lifting of the trophy, to move to another level in the Premier League this season. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Doubts crept in when United surged past them and the Blues stumbled, but now this game, which could see the two teams locked together on points with two games left, is of even greater consequence. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Yaya is used to big games. He played in a Champions League final for Barcelona – beating United – and has played in several El Clasico games which have helped shape the destiny of La Liga in recent years.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> But he has no doubts about the size of next Monday’s showdown at the Etihad Stadium: “It will be very big - big for the fans and for people who love football, because of the expectation and the quality that will be on the pitch.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “United have the likes of Wayne Rooney and Danny Wellbeck and City have Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli, and Samir Nasri.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “United are a tough team, big club with big experience and fantastic players - world class players - and it will be an amazing game for people who love football.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “When I was young, I always enjoyed watching the top games and now this is one of the most important games we have in the season.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> So is it a bigger game than the Wembley semi-final?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “This club has wanted the Premier League for a long time and in my opinion we have somebody who is trying to help us win the Premier League this year,” he said. “To see United lead 4-2 and end up 4-4 is incredible. Sunday was a fantastic day for City.” </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">But the big Ivorian cautioned that City can’t just think that beating United will win them the title, as they have three big games, with a tough trip to Newcastle followed by the final day of the season at home to relegation fighters QPR – on Yaya’s 29th birthday.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> “We have to win all three games and then we will see what will happen afterwards,” he said, although winning the games would ensure the title, barring a landslide of United goals in their last two games, at home to Swansea and away at Sunderland. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">“We have the team to win all the games. We have the quality and we have the mentality to win all these games." </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><b><u>Manchester United's slip-up lets Manchester City close gap ahead of biggest derby</u></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Fasten your seat belts, folks, this thrill-a-minute all-Manchester title race is going to the wire.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> United’s incredible 4-4 home draw with Everton and City’s win at Wolves means Monday’s Etihad derby won’t clinch it.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> But it will go a long, long way towards deciding whether Sir Alex Ferguson makes it a record 20th title for United or whether Roberto Mancini can end City’s 44-year wait for league glory. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Today United remain three points ahead of the Blues at the top and have the easier two final games on successive Sundays, hosting Swansea and then at Sunderland.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Neither of them have anything to play for while City’s opponents after the most important derby ever are Champions League-chasing Newcastle away and then ex-boss Mark Hughes’ relegation-threatened QPR at home. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Ferguson said: “We’ve given them the initiative. It makes the game at the Etihad Stadium more important – it’s the decider really.” Acknowledging Monday’s game will be ‘definitely’ the biggest derby of his 25-year United career, Ferguson added: “We have to go there knowing we are capable of getting a result. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Mancini’s in-form side capitalised on the lifeline handed to them by United’s draw with Everton 90 minutes earlier yesterday – and that 2-0 win at Molineux sent Wolves through the relegation trapdoor.</span></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>Wolverhampton 0 - Manchester City 2</u></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Manchester City put themselves firmly back in the title race as they closed the gap on rivals United to three points with victory at Molineux.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> Roberto Mancini's side capitalised on the title life-line handed to them via United's shock 4-4 home draw with Everton earlier in the afternoon, while Terry Connor's side became the first side to drop out of the top flight this season. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Goals from Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri sealed victory for the visitors who now have their fate back in their own hands ahead of next Monday's derby with United. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">City have a superior goal difference to United and, if they win their last three games, they should claim the title. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">There was little doubt about the outcome at Molineux once Aguero had broken the deadlock just before the half-hour mark. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Wolves showed plenty of spirit but defeat has brought an end to their three-year tenure in the top flight after a dreadful campaign. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">hey briefly led the division after collecting seven points from the opening three games but since then have picked up just 16 out of a possible 96. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Carlos Tevez, fresh from his hat-trick against Norwich, had the first attempt on goal and was only just too high with a dipping 25 yard drive.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> Wolves retaliated and Sebastien Bassong had a shot deflected wide after Michael Kightly's corner had been half cleared. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Aguero beat the offside trap and drilled a low shot inches wide of the far post. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">City keeper Joe Hart had to be alert to parry aside a 20-yard drive from David Davis.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> Samir Nasri spurned a good chance to put City ahead after 16 minutes when he shot wide after being found in space by Pablo Zabaleta.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> City started to enjoy the bulk of possession and a mis-placed headed back pass from Richard Stearman played in Aguero, who opted for a first time flick which went wide. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Aguero was then just off target from 15 yards as gaps started to appear in the Wolves back four. But after 27 minutes Aguero put City ahead with his 29th goal of the campaign.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> Gael Clichy made good ground down the left before picking out the run of Aguero with a pinpoint cross. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">He had time to bring the ball down before slotting his shot past Dorus De Vries into the corner of the net. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">City were now in total control and Aguero teed up Tevez but his curling effort flew straight at De Vries.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> Bassong blocked a shot from Tevez, while Nasri flashed a dangerous ball across the box. Yaya Toure became the first player to be booked after 55 minutes for chopping down Kightly.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> Wolves were showing plenty of spirit and Hart was called into action to turn aside a Fletcher header after Bassong had won the initial aerial battle. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Tevez twisted and turned before sending a dangerous ball across the six yard box but no-one was on hand to apply the finishing touch. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">City kept searching for the second goal but Stearman did well to block a low shot from Tevez. After 74 minutes Nasri put the outcome beyond doubt.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> Tevez was fouled by Davis, took the free-kick himself and exchanged passes with Clichy before finding Nasri in space. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">He had time to drill a low shot into the opposite corner of the net. City substitute Adam Johnson quickly made his presence felt, forcing a low save out of De Vries as City ended on top.</span><br />
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<u style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Dramatic Everton fightback blows title race wide open</u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.538em; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Everton twice battled back from two goals down to snatch a remarkable 4-4 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford that boosts Manchester City's hopes of clinching the Premier League crown.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">United are now six points ahead of City, who meet Wolves later on Sunday, having played a game more than their rivals. The teams are due to clash at the Etihad Stadium on Monday week, and City currently have a better goal difference than their rivals.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">A Manchester United team that featured no Ashley Young, who has been at the centre of a diving row in recent weeks, were punished for a laboured start when Nikica Jelavic broke the deadlock. The Croat, a huge success since joining from Rangers in January, conjured a fine, looping header over David de Gea after beating Rafael to Tony Hibbert's back-post cross.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">But the Toffees led for just over five minutes before Wayne Rooney, formerly of Everton, nodded in a terrific left-wing cross from Nani at close range. United made a similarly sluggish opening to the second period, yet a moment of magic from Danny Welbeck just before the hour edged them ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Welbeck, 18 yards out and in the centre of goal, curled the ball into the top corner after Antonio Valencia's cross was not properly cleared by the Everton rearguard. And the England international had a say in United's third, flicking the ball into the path of Nani, who clipped over Tim Howard following an incisive passing move.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">That strike had seemingly sapped the fight from Everton, but they pulled one back when Marouane Fellaini, surprisingly untroubled by United defenders, volleyed in from ten yards. United had been carving through the visitors' backline before that, however, and again they repeated the trick to restore a two-goal cushion: Welbeck passing through Phil Jagielka's legs for Rooney to produce the easiest of finishes.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Jelavic kept Everton alive, volleying in a flick-on from Fellaini, then the Belgian again turned provider to tee up Steven Pienaar who, ghosting into the area, slotted past De Gea. United pushed hard for an equaliser, with Rio Ferdinand drawing a fine save from Howard, but it was not to be.</span></div>
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</div>Saad ahmedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14755484994880977078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69191809571646014.post-33061168963962127782012-04-16T03:44:00.004-07:002012-04-29T01:03:00.652-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><u>Tevez can fire us to Premier League title, says Man City No 1 Hart</u></span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has backed Carlos Tevez to score the goals to help the club win their first Premier League title.</span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Roberto Mancini's side were comfortably clear at the top of the table earlier in the season before falling off the pace, but they returned to form on Saturday with a 6-1 thumping of Norwich - a game in which Tevez scored a hat-trick.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Argentine striker missed most of the season after a public falling out with Mancini back in September, but Hart believes that now he is fit and firing the ex-United player can help to peg back his former club.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">'We have been a bit dry on goals recently, so that fresh Carlos input has been awesome,' Hart told <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Sports</span>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">'You can say what you want about Carlos Tevez, but when he plays, he plays to win and he plays for his team-mates.'</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Hart also took the opportunity to state that there are no problems between Tevez and his team-mates despite his antics this season.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">'There are far more important things in our lives than what went on and what didn’t go on,' added Hart, who is on the shortlist for the PFA player of the year.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'</span>We have that goal of trying to win the league and Carlos has bought into that. He has not come in and tried to make any big statements. We have just all moved on.'</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Hart reiterated that the Manchester derby on April 30 is the key fixture for City, while he also claimed that Mancini's insistence that the title race is over is an approached designed to relax his players.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">'There is no point in us turning up on Sunday if the title race is over. We’ve still got to believe, we’ve still got to fight for every single point available,' said Hart.</span></span></div>
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I don’t think he (Mancini) means that the season is over. I think he is just trying to play it down a little bit and let us get on with what we need to do. </div>
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There is no way any of us would give up until it is mathematically impossible.</div>
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'I know three of them definitely can be overturned - that is in our hands.</div>
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'Other than that, we’ve got to rely on other teams. We can only battle away and try and win every game and hope that United slip up.'</div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>Man City target £30m Spain striker Llorente as Dzeko replacement</u></i></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Manchester City are closing in on a £30million deal to sign Athletic Bilbao's Spain international striker Fernando Llorente.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Manager Roberto Mancini is ready to let Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund target Edin Dzeko leave the club, while the futures of fellow front men Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli hang in the balance.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">As a result, Mancini is in the market for a striker and he has identified the 6ft 5in World Cup winner as his preferred choice.</span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-align: left;">The Sun</span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">claim that the two clubs are deep into negotiations </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">over a deal.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Despite a run to the Europa League semi-finals, which saw them knock out Manchester United, Bilbao are struggling in seventh place in La Liga and are looking to cash in on their prize assets.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white;">Llorente - who has seven goals in 20 games for Spain and is likely to feature at Euro 2012 - is a long term target of Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp. But Spurs will not be able to compete with the £200,000-a-week salary that City are prepared to offer the 27-year-old.</span></span></div>
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</span></div>Saad ahmedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14755484994880977078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69191809571646014.post-81772440094267954772012-04-16T01:39:00.001-07:002012-04-21T06:56:58.197-07:00<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt; text-align: center;">
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<h1 class="title" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.199219) -1px -1px 1px;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><u>MANCHESTER CITY FC</u></span></h1>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/" target="_blank">ManchesterCity Football Club</a></span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;"> is an English Premier
League football club based in </span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><br /></st1:place></st1:city></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Manchester</st1:place></st1:city>. Founded in 1880 as <b>St.
Mark's (West Gorton)</b>, they became <b>Ardwick Association FootballClub</b> in
1887 and </span><st1:place style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;" u1:st="on"><st1:placename u1:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Manchester</span></b></st1:placename><b style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="color: black;"></span></b></st1:place></st1:placename><b style="color: #3d85c6;"> <st1:placetype w:st="on"><st1:placetype u1:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:placetype></b></st1:place><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;"> in
1894. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;">The club has played at the City of </span><st1:city style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Manchester Stadium</st1:place></st1:city><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;"> since 2003,
having played at </span><st1:street style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;" w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Maine Road</st1:address></st1:street><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial;"> from
1923.</span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">The club's most successful period was in the late
1960s and early 1970s when they won the</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">League Championship</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">,</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">FA Cup</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">,</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">League Cup</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">and</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">European Cup Winners' Cup</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">under the management team of</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">Joe Mercer</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">and</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">Malcolm Allison</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">.
After losing the</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">1981 FA Cup Final</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">,
the club went through a period of decline culminating in</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">relegation</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">to the third tier of</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">English football</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">in</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">1998</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">for
the first time in their history. The club has since regained</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">top flight</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">status where they have spent the
majority of their history. In 2011, </span><st1:place style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;" w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Manchester</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> qualified for the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">Champions League</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">and</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">won</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">the</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">FA Cup</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28.5pt;">.</span></div>
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<st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><u>Abu Dhabi</u></span></i></span></st1:city><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><u>
firm buys <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Manchester</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place></u></span></i><span style="color: #393939; font-size: 19pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;"> </span><st1:city style="line-height: 13.5pt;" w:st="on"><span style="font-family: Arial;">DUBAI</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 13.5pt;">: Abu Dhabi United
Group for Development and Investment (ABUG) has taken over the Premier League
football club <st1:placename w:st="on">Manchester</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype> from its owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, former prime
minister of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The club ownership exchanged hands after a
deal between the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Abu Dhabi</st1:place></st1:city>
firm and the former Thai leader, Arabian Business magazine reported.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Soon after, the new owners sanctioned a bid to
sign Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov before the close of the transfer window which
he reportedly accepted. City's offer for Berbatov is reported to be in excess
of USD 58 million and would set a new British transfer record.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">ADUG will be represented on the new board of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Manchester</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> by Hydra Properties CEO Dr Sulaiman
Al Fahim. Al Fahim, who led negotiations, confirmed today the deal had been
struck.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">"We will release details later, but this
is a great event for both the club and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Abu
Dhabi</st1:place></st1:city>. Our goal is very simple to make <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Manchester</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> the biggest club in the Premier
League, and to begin with, to finish in the top four this season," he
said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Al Fahim stressed that the Group will solve
all the club problems and clear any pending payments, and will comprehensively
support the club by bringing in some of the best football players in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><st1:placename w:st="on"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Manchester</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype>'s
future has been uncertain following legal problems faced in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region> by
Shinawatra, who will stay on as honorary president of the club without any
administrative responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<u><b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-large;">About Etihad Stadium</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><a href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/the-club/visiting-the-stadium" target="_blank">Etihad Stadium</a> is a multi-purpose facility designed to cater for major sporting and entertainment events, as well as social, business and private functions.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The stadium is situated in the heart of Melbourne’s Docklands, just minutes from the CBD. Etihad Stadium is the only football stadium in the Southern Hemisphere with a fully retractable roof.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Since opening on March 9, 2000 well over 25 million people have passed through the venue's turnstiles.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">On the opening night, Essendon led by Kevin Sheedy and James Hird defeated Port Adelaide 24.12.156 to 8.14.62.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The stadium now hosts in the vicinity of 50 AFL matches a season; in summer, A-League club Melbourne Victory becomes a regular participant at the venue. The venue also regularly stages international sporting events such as Rugby League World Cup matches, Rugby Union Tests and in 2008 Etihad Stadium hosted its first soccer World Cup qualifier.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The venue has also hosted many concert spectaculars featuring international performers such as Andre Rieu, Robbie Williams, Barbra Streisand, Bon Jovi, Kiss, U2, ACDC, Bruce Springsteen and many others.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Etihad Stadium now has five AFL tenant clubs – Essendon, Western Bulldogs, St Kilda, Kangaroos and Carlton.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Naming Rights:</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">On March 1, 2009 the venue officially became known as Etihad Stadium.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. It commenced daily non-stop flights from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi and beyond from March 30, 2009.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The venue had previously been known as Colonial Stadium and Telstra Dome.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Largest Attendance at Etihad Stadium:</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Catholic Jubilee Mass<br />November 15, 2000<br />70,000 people</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Largest Entertainment event attendance at Etihad Stadium:</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i>Robbie Williams</i><br />December 18, 2006<br />64,619 screaming fans</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i>Series of Concerts</i><br />February 11, 13 & 15 2010<br />ACDC<br />181,495 patrons</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Largest Sporting event attendance at Etihad Stadium:</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Wallabies v British & Irish Lions<br />July 7, 2001<br />56,605 Rugby fans</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Largest AFL Attendance at Etihad Stadium:</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">St Kilda v Geelong, Round 14<br />July 5, 2009<br />54,444</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u style="background-color: white;">ABOUT ROBERTO MANCINI</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>Roberto Mancini</b> (<small>Italian pronunciation: </small><span class="IPA" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS', 'Lucida Sans Unicode';" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[roˈbɛrto manˈtʃini]</span>; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager, formerly an international player and current manager of Premier League club Manchester City. As a player Mancini was best known for his time at Sampdoria, where he played more than 550 matches, and helped them win theSerie A league title, four Coppa Italias and the Cup Winners Cup, whilst being capped 36 times by Italy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">As a player, he gained a penchant for becoming a future manager and would often give team talks at half-time</span><span style="line-height: 10px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 19px;">and ultimately became an assistant to Sven-Göran Erikssonat Lazio in the twilight of his playing career. After his retirement, Mancini embarked on a successful managerial career. A cup specialist,Mancini had never failed to reach a semi-final of a major national cup competition, from 2002 to 2011. He also guided the Italian clubs he managed to a record 5 consecutive Coppa Italia finals from 2004 to 2008, with Lazio once in 2004 and with Inter in the following four seasons.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Mancini's first managerial role was at a cash stricken Fiorentina at only 35 years old and managed to win a Coppa Italia, but left with Fiorentina facing bankruptcy. Months later, he took over as manager at Lazio, where again he inherited financial constraints and was forced to lose a number of key players. With limited resources during his two season tenure, he still managed to win another Coppa Italia, reach a UEFA Cup semi-final, and secure a lucrative Champions League place.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">In 2004, Mancini was given the chance to manage a major club, being offered the manager's job at Internazionale. During his tenure at Inter, the club won three consecutive Serie A titles (an Inter club record) and a European record 17 consecutive league game victories stretching nearly half a season, and became Inter's most successful manager in 30 years.Despite his domestic success, many pundits</span><span style="line-height: 10px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 19px;">saw the repeated failure to win the coveted Champions League as the main reason for his sacking in 2008.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">After being out of football for over a year, Mancini was appointed Manchester Citymanager in December 2009 and his team-building achievements at Lazio and Inter were a factor in his appointment.In the 2010-11 season, his first full season at City, Mancini guided the club to Champions League football and the FA Cup, and has moulded City into a sound defensive unit He maintains a tradition of wearing a scarf of his club's colours, something which has been continued at Manchester City.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><u>Trillion-dollar wealth of new Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan</u></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">This is the trillion-dollar man behind the mega-rich Arabs promising to build a global super-team at Manchester City.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the brother of the ruler of Abu Dhabi, the biggest of the United Arab Emirates.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Within an estimated family fortune of $1trillion (£555billion) he is set to make the £11.7billion spending power of Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich look like chicken feed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The club's new owners are set to bankroll a mind-boggling £540million spending spree - including an audacious £135million swoop for Cristiano Ronaldo from arch rivals Manchester United.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6;">Middle East business group Abu Dhabi United's spokesman says they will try to snatch the World Player of the Year in January.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">And we can reveal the staggering wealth of the tycoon behind the group whose sensational developments threaten to turn football on its head.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">His mega-deep coffers have been boosted by the surge in oil prices - for it is said every time the price of a barrel goes up a dollar, Abu Dhabi makes another $500million a day.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Sheikh has spent £210million buying a 90 per cent stake in Manchester City - fired into action by the intense rivalry Abu Dhabi has with its smaller yet even more successful Emirate neighbour Dubai.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">In a similar competitive move into the sporting world, Abu Dhabi splashed out £91million for a five per cent stake in Ferrari three years ago in the hope Formula One will give it a Grand Prix.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">And the Emirate has also bought one of New York's best-known skyscrapers, the Chrysler Building, for &Ucirc;800million last year.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Now Sheikh Mansour plans to take City to dizzy heights and put even mighty Manchester United in the shade by turning his new plaything into the biggest club on the planet.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Other big-money transfer targets are thought to include Liverpool's Fernando Torres and Arsenal's Cesc Febregas.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry and Valencia's goal-getting Spanish Euro 2006 striker David Villa are also believed to be on City's shopping list. It follows the stunning £33million transfer-deadline signing of Real Madrid's Brazilian superstar forward Robinho from under the noses of high-rollers Chelsea.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">But a deal to lure Ronaldo from arch rivals Manchester United in the next transfer window would prove the biggest scalp - despite his wish to move to Spain.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim, frontman of the Abu Dhabi United Group, said: "Ronaldo has said he wants to play for the biggest club in the world, so we will see in January if he is serious. Real Madrid were estimating his value at &Ucirc;160m but to actually get him, will cost a lot more. But why not? We are going to be the biggest club in the world, bigger than both Real Madrid and Manchester United."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The deal could spark a wave of similar takeovers by oil-rich foreign backers. Financial advisor Amanda Stavely, who brokered the Abu Dhabi deal, explained why the Middle East consortium were keen.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">"The Premier League without doubt as a sporting brand is a great opportunity," she said. "We should be very proud of British football. "Any outside or foreign investor can only be excited to get involved in a world-class league. Manchester City sells itself."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Abu Dhabi United Group is among of a new breed of investors known as sovereign wealth funds.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">These off-shoots of governments, mainly from the Middle East, have grown massively wealthy on the back of soaring oil prices. And with oil rising from 23 a barrel in 2002 to $147 this year, they are running out of things to buy at home.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">There is concern that countries with undemocratic political systems, as well as human rights records, are able to buy our prized-assets.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">But with the credit crunch leaving many in the West strapped for cash and oil prices still high, the trend is only set to continue</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">GULF RIVALS RICHES</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates but it lives in the shadow of its bigger and richer neighbour Dubai - the Persian Gulf's jewel in the crown.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Saad ahmedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14755484994880977078noreply@blogger.com0