Champions League: Long way to go for City, says Mancini

Italian admits team’s failure after crashing out in group stages.

MANCHESTER:

Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini said his side have a long way to go to be considered Champions League contenders after a second successive group-phase exit.

City were held 1-1 by Real Madrid on Wednesday, with Sergio Aguero cancelling out Karim Benzema’s opener from the penalty spot in the second half. City currently lead the Premier League, having pipped Manchester United to the title last season, but Mancini says they are not yet major players on the continental scene.

“This is for us the second time to play in the Champions League and to win the Champions League, maybe you need to go first in the first stage,” he said. “Maybe you can win the Champions League. But I think that there are five, six teams better than us.”

Di Matteo ‘proud’ despite Chelsea axe

Meanwhile, Roberto Di Matteo spoke of his pride in having managed Chelsea after the club sacked him despite the Italian guiding the Londoners to their first Champions League title last season.

“It was an honour for me to be appointed manager of the club,” said Di Matteo. “I am proud of the successes and trophies that we were able to bring in recent months.”

Prior to Di Matteo’s statement, Chelsea announced that former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez had been appointed as their ‘interim’ first-team manager until the end of the season. Di Matteo was the seventh manager sacked by Chelsea’s Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich since he bought the club in 2003.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2012.