Roberto Mancini intends thwarting Manchester United's quest to win a league and FA Cup double, with the Manchester City manager aiming to win the trophy and finish second to ensure "a good season".
City are 15 points behind United and, for the first time, the manager has conceded the club’s defence of the title is over. City are already in the Cup semi-final and await the outcome of Monday’s quarter-final between United and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. If Alex Ferguson’s side win they will face City at Wembley on April 14th.
But Mancini stated he was not interested which club City play in the semi-final. “To play against United or Chelsea is no change,” he said.
Yet, would knocking United out of the Cup not ease the pain of losing the championship?
“I think we should be sad that we won’t win the title. But if there is a team better than you then you have to accept that. After, it is important for us to win the FA Cup. Whether it is against Chelsea or United is not important.”
Mancini claimed it would not be a “disaster” if City failed to finish second in the Premier League. But with Chelsea only four points behind and Tottenham a further one, the Italian is conscious the runners-up position is not to be taken for granted.
“I’m sure Chelsea and Tottenham want to take the second position and we must do our best for this reason,” he said.
“If we finish runners-up and win the FA Cup it would still have been a good season when you consider all the problems we have had this season.”
Mancini shrugged off comments made in Italy in the week by Angelo Gregucci, one of his coaches, who said: “Mancini’s future? I don’t know. Mancini is tied to a contract, but we’ll see at the end of the season.”
Mancini said: “Angelo Gregucci? Yes, he works with us, but no, it is not true, this. It is impossible that he said this.”
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Mancini also hinted that Kolo Toure will still leave in the summer despite playing more regularly because of Vincent Kompany's calf injury.
Meanhwile, Kompany appears to have declared himself fit to return to action for the club this weekend. Kompany angered Mancini by playing in a World Cup qualifier for Belgium on Tuesday when he had not played for the club for eight weeks.
Mancini felt the 26-year-old was risking a recurrence of his calf problem and warned that players should understand “there are some cases that the club is more important”.
But Kompany, whose potential comeback had already been put back several times by City, was again not risked by Belgium in Macedonia last Friday and only featured in the return fixture this week. He then spoke positively about his fitness prior to the game in Brussels and now seems set to feature against Newcastle.
Kompany tweeted a picture of his boots along with the caption: "They're ready to roll again! :-)"
Guardian Service
