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Gael Clichy doesn’t believe that there has been that much of improvement made by Manchester City in the last 12 months.

It’s something that the City fans would obviously not be pleased to hear, but, the experienced left back seems to be quite correct in his assessment there.

There have been millions and millions of money being invested by the City board in order to make sure that the team becomes strong enough to challenge for the title in Europe, but, it seems to be far from happening at this point of time.

Gael Clichy doesn’t believe that there has been that much of improvement made by Manchester City in the last 12 months.

It’s something that the City fans would obviously not be pleased to hear, but, the experienced left back seems to be quite correct in his assessment there.

There have been millions and millions of money being invested by the City board in order to make sure that the team becomes strong enough to challenge for the title in Europe, but, it seems to be far from happening at this point of time.

The Sky Blues are standing on the verge of being knocked out of Europe by the same team again and that is Barcelona.
The Catalan Giants had done that to City the previous season too, beating them 2-0 and 2-1 in the two legs respectively.

And, this time around, they have started with a 2-1 win over the Premier League Champions.

Now, for City to beat Barca by a margin of more than one goal and that too playing at Camp Nou in a couple of weeks, that is going to be one heck of a task.

If they manage to do so, that would be a bit of an upset actually considering the form that they have shown lately.
Clichy, however, has urged his team not to give up just yet and to go into the return leg all guns firing.

Clichy was quoted as speaking, “Today, as the game went ahead, we started to do a little bit better. But, that’s not going to do. We have to be at it right from the outset.”

“It’s hard to say whether we’ve improved from where we were the previous season, but, whatever is the case, we have to believe that we can turn it around in the return leg.”

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has targeted only a victory when his team take on Roma in a crucial Champions League group match.

This match is likely to decide the second placed team in the group, as it is widely expected that CSKA Moscow will suffer a defeat in their group match against Bayern Munich. Three teams can realistically expect to reach the last 16 of the competition, but it is far more important for Pellegrini given the amount of money he has spent. City have underachieved in the Champions League ever since they came into the competition a few years ago.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has targeted only a victory when his team take on Roma in a crucial Champions League group match.

This match is likely to decide the second placed team in the group, as it is widely expected that CSKA Moscow will suffer a defeat in their group match against Bayern Munich. Three teams can realistically expect to reach the last 16 of the competition, but it is far more important for Pellegrini given the amount of money he has spent. City have underachieved in the Champions League ever since they came into the competition a few years ago.

The 3-2 win over Bayern Munich in the previous round has given them a great opportunity to think about reaching the last 16. The club has not when asked the last 16 stage in its relatively short Champions League history. Roma will welcome City for this crucial match in the Italian capital. They managed a 1-1 draw when they travelled to the Etihad stadium in the reverse fixture. City come on the high reducing the deficit at the top of the Premier League to just three points. Since the win against Bayern Munich, the team has been playing with a lot of confidence. However, Pellegrini will be without star striker Sergio Aguero.

“We will not change, we will always be an offensive team. We always try to go for the game from the beginning and we will do the same against Roma. The thing is that Roma are in a similar position. They know if they draw 1-1 and Bayern beat CSKA then the result favours us. We would go through in that situation, so Roma really need a win too. If it is 0-0 [and Bayern win] that puts Roma in a better position than us,” said Pellegrini.

Keylor Navas, the Costa Rica international, stood between the sticks for Real Madrid in place of Iker Casillas in the Liga game versus Elche earlier today.
This had to happen at some point with Casillas. He had clearly not been producing the kind of shows that he is known for. The Blancos team management as well as the hierarchy backed him fully, preferring him ahead of the other keepers in the starting matches of the season, but, he was just not able to live up to that.

Keylor Navas, the Costa Rica international, stood between the sticks for Real Madrid in place of Iker Casillas in the Liga game versus Elche earlier today.
This had to happen at some point with Casillas. He had clearly not been producing the kind of shows that he is known for. The Blancos team management as well as the hierarchy backed him fully, preferring him ahead of the other keepers in the starting matches of the season, but, he was just not able to live up to that.
As per the sources close to Real Madrid, the team boss Carlo Ancelotti said to his players in the evening yesterday that because of the hectic schedule, each and every player in the squad including the skipper had to be rotated.
It would be hard for Casillas now to get back to the top of the pecking order again at Bernabeu, at least this season.
Navas looked confident against Elche. He couldn’t keep the clean sheet, but, he was certainly better than Casillas who had put up one of his worst performances ever against Atletico Madrid.
Florentino Perez, the chairman of the club, had however come out supporting the veteran keeper saying that people should show respect towards him for what he had done for the Whites previously.
This is what Perez had to say after that derby defeat of Real, “I don’t think any goalie has served Real Madrid better than Iker. He should not get humiliated. We all should respect him as he has given us a lot to cheer for in the past.”
Casillas, who can be considered a legend both for Spain as well as for Real Madrid, has as many as 482 Liga appearances to his name so far.

Gael Clichy is very happy with Manchester City’s decision of buying Bacary Sagna.

City has recently secured the services of Sagna without paying any transfer fee. The veteran right back from France was released by his previous club Arsenal and thus, he was available on free.

Clichy and Sagna have played with each other a lot in club and in international football and they are believed to be very good mates.

Gael Clichy is very happy with Manchester City’s decision of buying Bacary Sagna.

City has recently secured the services of Sagna without paying any transfer fee. The veteran right back from France was released by his previous club Arsenal and thus, he was available on free.

Clichy and Sagna have played with each other a lot in club and in international football and they are believed to be very good mates.

Talking to the reporters yesterday about Sagna’s arrival at the Etihad Stadium, Clichy said, “It’s fantastic for me because I am very close to him. The two of us have played a number of matches alongside each other in the past and I do rate him very highly as a footballer. And the most important thing is that City has got him at zero money. It’s a huge deal for the club I must say.”

“I don’t think there are too many right backs that’ve been better than Bacary in the last few years. He offers a lot and he is also a team man. You can be rest assured as a manager that you would get 100% from him all the time. And, he has got experienced now too with the amount of football that he has played. So, the club has done a great job getting him signed. The fans would also be looking forward to his performances; that’s for sure.”

Clichy himself is also a defender, but, unlike Sagna, he plays at the left back position most of the times and thus, he would not be involved in any competition with his countryman for a place in the starting XI.

In the 7 years that Sagna spent playing at the Emirates Stadium, he featured in more than 200 league games scoring 4 times. He had only missed three league games for the Gunners last season.