Manchester City boss claims Mario Balotelli has a golden opportunity to become a club hero – FA Cup
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini sees this weekend’s FA Cup semifinal against Manchester United at Wembley as a golden opportunity for Mario Balotelli to become a hero at Eastlands.
After it was confirmed by Manchester City that their skipper, Carlo Tevez, will not take part in the FA Cup semifinal since he is suffering from a knee injury sustained in the club’s recent defeat against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mario-Balotelli-c23937
will replace the Argentinean striker in the heart of City’s attack against Manchester United.
Though Balotelli’s recent performances are not very impressive, it is expected that he will be get the nod over other strikers at Manchester City, as he has already scored 10 goals for the Blues since joining from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan in the summer.
However, Balotelli have failed to give consistent performances at City and his off field controversies have also hurt his image at the club.
Now, as Manchester City are going to play their first semi-final of the FA Cup since 1981, Roberto Mancini feels that a brilliant performance from Balotelli could win him the hearts of millions of City fans.
Roberto http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mancini-c23323 said, “Mario knows he must take more responsibility. We have six league games, plus the semi-final and the final. I hope Mario can score important goals. He could be the hero. On Saturday, if he plays, he has a chance to do well. Maybe if
he scores a goal it could take us to the final. That would change his year".
However, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-c31294 Mancini also confirmed that he has yet to decide his attacking line-up for the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United, which means that Edin Dzeko could also start for the Citizens.
Moreover, Dzeko has an impressive record against Manchester United as he has scored twice against Sir http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alex-c4752 Ferguson in UEFA Champions League matches while playing for Wolfsburg.
However, the Bosnian striker has failed to make an impact in the Barclays Premier League since making a move to Manchester City in January 2011- netting only four goals so far in the season.
Now, Roberto Mancini wants Edin Dzeko to step up his game and help City in getting positive result in the upcoming matches.
Mancini added, “We need Dzeko to be good now. Dzeko is a fantastic striker but when you join a team in January, he has new team-mates and a new manager with new methods”.
Manchester City are desperate to end their trophy drought of 35 years but for that they will first have to overcome their local rivals, Manchester United, who are also aiming for a treble this season.
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