Roberto Mancini has a novel idea for stopping Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Real Madrid’s visit to face his Manchester City side this Wednesday.
“We’ll call the police,” joked the Italian to the media ahead of hosting the former Manchester United star in a must-win game for the Citizens in Group D.
“Ronaldo is a top player and he deserves to win the Ballon d’Or. He scored so many goals last year, and that helped Real finish above Barcelona in La Liga. He and Messi are the best players in the world, but what he did to make Real champions has to count in his favour.
“I hope he can have a bad night on Wednesday, but when you come up against a player who can score one or two goals every game, it is difficult.
“For him, it will be a big occasion, returning to Manchester, but it is an important night for Real as well, because they want to keep progressing towards the second stage.”
City are in a tricky predicament heading into the midweek clash, with just two points collected from the first four rounds of the group stages. For Mancini, the opening night’s 3-2 defeat to Madrid has proven influential.
“If we had come back from the Bernabeu with a good result it would have probably changed this group for us.
“It was really disappointing. It’s not easy to play there and in the first half they played better than us, but the match totally changed in the second half and, when you are 2-1 up with three minutes to go, you should be very strong to close the game.
“I think that we don’t have any chance to go to the second stage, but football is strange. I think for the fans it’s an important game because, three or four years ago, City supporters would want this game and to play in the Champions League against Real and Barcelona.
“Now it's an important game and we want to do a good job.”
