Manchester City are set for an absolutely massive game against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final and while nerves are inevitable, one football veteran believes they are about to “blow them away”: Wayne Rooney.
Yes, that’s right, the Manchester United and England legend turned DC United coach has given his two cents ahead of the huge away fixture at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, stating that Man City are simply “on another level” at the moment and will dispatch with the Madrid rather easily, in fact.
Writing in a column for The Times, Rooney insisted that while Los Blancos may have dumped City out last in last year’s competition at this very same stage, he believes that “Haaland has improved [them] so much” that it won’t be anywhere near as tight a game (6-5 on aggregate) this time around.
Big words.
Haaland has improved Man City so much that I expect them to blow Real Madrid away.👇https://t.co/NDryOp1psL
Rooney reckons City will ‘blow Madrid away’. No pressure, lads.
The 37-year-old said that while Pep Guardiola has already the right players and tools to get the job done this time anyway (putting last season’s disappointment down to “a mad five minutes”), he believes the Norwegian phenomenon “is almost unstoppable on the counter”.
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Explaining that City don’t have to rely on dominating possession to hurt teams so much these days, he went on to add that how “if an opponent opens up and leaves space, Haaland is right there, running in behind”, with the 22-year-old displaying a frightening amount of pace, especially given his height.
As a result, the one-time Champions League winner himself says “Madrid will be much more cautious this time” as the Norwegian will make them nervous.”
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On the contrary, however, when asked what he thought of Rooney’s remarks, Madrid midfielder and serial winner Toni Kroos laughed off the bold claim, simply stating how City were predicted to win the tie last year but that he and his teammates went on to win the whole thing.
Translation: “Rooney said City will destroy us? They said the same last season, then we won the Champions League. This doesn’t affect us. We are already motivated enough.”
Safe to say that Kroos is more than confident the 14-time European champions will get the job done over the two legs, regardless of who might take the lead — just look at last year.
Speaking of, Rooney did make little mention of the two legs but noted that Guardiola’s team performed brilliantly both home and away last time around, suggesting it was simply one of those “improbable” results that football throws up and City have been building towards this like most CL winning teams.
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Although he did go on to concede that his predictions “may be wrong” — admitting that “there is no side better at disproving arguments against them than Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid in the Champions League” — he still believes this Pep and his team will be victorious thanks to their star man.
The question is, even if they do make it past Madrid, will they finally go on to lift their first European trophy? Rooney went so far as to say that if it does happen, “as much it pains [him]… you’d have to put City up there with United’s 1999 treble winners as the best Premier League team of all time.
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
9th May 2023 
