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| Manchester City’s Italian manager Roberto Mancini attends a press conference in Manchester on the eve of their UEFA Champions League Group A soccer match against Germany’s Bayern Munich. City need to beat Bayern Munich to keep their Champions League hopes alive and hope that Villarreal, who have no points from their five games, can at least draw with Napoli. (AFP |
Manchester City’s Champions League fate will be decided by their final Group A game at home to Bayern Munich today when manager Roberto Mancini will also tackle one of the many critics of the club’s big-money approach to cracking the European elite.
Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has questioned City’s free-spending ways in view of impending financial fair play rules and has cited the club as an example when calling on UEFA to impose strict penalties on those who do not comply.
“I don’t understand Rummenigge’s behaviour against Manchester City—he’s been talking about us for six months,” Mancini told a news conference yesterday.
“Every time (it is about) financial fair play, he continues to say he hopes Napoli go through to the second stage ... I don’t understand what’s happened with Rummenigge, tomorrow I want to ask him.”
City need to beat group winners Bayern at the Etihad stadium on Wednesday and hope second-placed Napoli fail to win at Villarreal, who have yet to pick up a point, in order to qualify for the last 16.
It is not just Rummenigge who has spoken unfavourably about the Premier League club with Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis taunting them last month by saying City owner Sheikh Mansour would “buy another toy” if they are not successful.
“He (De Laurentiis) doesn’t know him,” Mancini said of the club’s owner. “Sheikh Mansour is a very good man ... I can’t think about this stupid situation.”
Having once been dismissed as “noisy neighbours” by champions Manchester United, City are finding the racket is about them and they feel they have the quality on the pitch to match it.
Mancini, who has rated his team’s chances of reaching the knockout stage of Europe’s elite club competition at 30 percent, thinks there will be a lot of sides who will be relieved if City do not progress.
“Bayern think this,” he said.
“If we go through it will be a big problem for the other teams ... I think that every team is worried regarding Manchester City because Manchester City in the future will become one of the top clubs in the world.”
One player who is not part of that vision is striker Carlos Tevez, who is in Argentina without the club’s permission after refusing to warm-up in September’s match against Bayern in Germany.
AC Milan have spoken of their interest in signing him on loan but City are only prepared to sell him.
“I think that for us it is important to sell him. We can do this for him and for the club,” Mancini said. “If he has the chance to go to Italy, I am happy for him.”
It is not just outsiders who have been talking about City with defender Kolo Toure under the media spotlight for comments he made to a French magazine this week saying he had been victimised for playing in the African Nations Cup two years ago.
Toure has seen little first-team action since his return from a doping ban earlier this year but Mancini said the Ivorian was still part of his plans.
The manager said he was not going to investigate the article as he believed Toure’s explanation that he had been misquoted.
Mancini brushes off Toure comments
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has brushed off comments attributed to defender Kolo Toure which suggested the player feels he has fallen out of favour for having played in the Africa Cup of Nations (ANC).
Toure was quoted in French football monthly magazine So Foot claiming he feels he is being victimised for participating in the ANC two years ago.
According to Mancini, Toure said he did not make the comments and the Italian yesterday said he accepts that and will not delve deeper.
Mancini, speaking at a press conference to preview Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich, said: “I spoke about this with Kolo yesterday. He told me he didn’t say anything about this.
“Kolo and I do not have any problem. He explained this to me and for me it is finished. It is okay now.”
When asked if he believed Toure, Mancini said: “Yes I did, I believe him.
“I did not read the article so I don’t know what Kolo said, I can say only yesterday at training he told me about this interview.