Translated material
City of Peace
Manchester Derby ends in a draw
Another attempt by Manchester City to declare itself as a full-fledged member of the “Big English Four” ended unsuccessfully. The Citizens again failed to win the Mancunian derby against Manchester United - 0:0. After a colorless draw, the confidence index in MS head coach Roberto Mancini continues to slide down. His team, which has spent more than a hundred million pounds on strengthening the attacking line, ends a third of its matches without scoring goals.At the same time, “MS” does not concede often, thanks to which it has quite firmly occupied the coveted fourth place. But being a member of the Big Four is more than just a place in the league table. And Manchester City does not reach the title of the English top club, despite its constant explosions in the transfer market. Lately it has been fashionable to blame Italian head coach Roberto Mancini for this. And he made his situation even worse by quarreling with several players and coming into conflict with the British press.
Mancini is accused of the fact that his team scores too few goals - only 15 goals, seven of which were scored by Carlos Tevez. Second on the list of City scorers is Mario Balottelli. But he, having just recovered from a knee injury and celebrated his recovery with a brace against West Bromwich, as usual, earned himself a sending off in the same match and was disqualified for the match with Manchester United.
Carlos Tevez, however, even without his leadership in the scorers' race, was doomed to become the main figure of this derby - Manchester United fans will not soon forget the scandalous story of the Argentine forward's flight from United to City. Tevez, in turn, did everything to remind himself on the field. It was he who was the author of two scoring episodes that the “townspeople” could boast of this evening. First, the Argentine scored from a free kick, and in the second half he once again troubled Edwin van der Sar. The nominal guests also weren’t particularly successful in creating chances, although they looked more active. So the draw turned out to be zero not only in terms of score, but also in content. And even the fans behaved decently - the Manchester police in vain switched to an enhanced work regime, establishing a two-mile alcohol-free zone around the stadium.
Mancini, however, was very pleased that he did not lose. “I'm not disappointed with the result, I can't understand the dissatisfaction of some fans,” he said after the match. - We may have played better last season. But we were losing. We didn't play a fantastic match this time, but in the end we got a point, which is good."
There is a considerable amount of truth in the Italian’s words - City lost to their neighbors in the two previous matches. And now the “citizens”, having not lost, are quite confidently staying close to the top three. Meanwhile, the status of the fourth team in the English Premier League is not just a reason for pride and a pass to the Champions League. This is a pretty decent component of financial success. Last season Tottenham came fourth. And the other day, the Spurs published a financial report in which they reported a record income of $193.4 million. As club owner Daniel Levy explained, the club managed to achieve such high values thanks to its excellent sporting results. At the same time, the Spurs still remained in the red: due to active activity in the transfer market - during the reporting period the club acquired Sebastien Bassong, Peter Crouch and Younes Kaboul - the budget deficit amounted to $10.7 million.
Levy, however, is confident, not without reason, that Spurs will easily recoup this money using bonuses for performances in the Champions League: Tottenham, after the recent victory over Inter, is one step away from reaching the playoffs of the tournament. And in the championship, the team of Harry Redknapp, who, by the way, is called one of the candidates to replace Mancini at City, does not look so confident yet. Spurs have not won for the fourth match in a row: defeats to Manchester United and Bolton were followed by a home draw with Sunderland. The English Premier League does not forgive such failures - Tottenham immediately dropped to seventh place, and even Roman Pavlyuchenko suffered a back injury.
Football. English Championship. 12th round. Wolverhampton - Arsenal - 0:2, Chelsea - Fulham - 1:0, Newcastle - Blackburn - 1:2, Wigan - Liverpool -- 1:1, West Ham -- West Bromwich Albion -- 2:2, Aston Villa -- Blackpool -- 3:2, Everton -- Bolton -- 1:1 , Manchester City - Manchester United - 0:0, Stoke City - Birmingham - 3:2, Tottenham - Sunderland - 1:1.
Italian Championship. 11th round. Brescia - Juventus - 1:1, Cagliari - Napoli - 0:1, Catania - Udinese - 1:0, Cesena - Lazio -- 1:0, Chievo -- Bari -- 0:0, Genoa -- Bologna -- 1:0, Lecce -- Inter -- 1:1, Milan "- "Palermo" - 3:1, "Roma" - "Fiorentina" - 3:2. The leaders are: Milan - 23 points, Lazio - 22, Napoli - 21, Inter - 20.
Spanish Cup. 1/16 finals. Return matches. Racing - Cordoba - 3:1 (first match 0:2), Espanyol - Valladolid - 1:1 (2:0), Zaragoza - Betis - 1:2 (1:0), “Real” – “Murcia” – 5:1 (0:0), “Sevilla” – “Real Union” – 6:1 (4:0), “Villarreal” " -- "Poly Ejido" -- 2:0 (1:1), "Levante" -- "Jerez" -- 1:2 (3:2), "Deportivo" -- "Osasuna" -- 2:1 (1:1), Atlético - Universidad - 1:1 (5:0), Almeria - Real Sociedad - 2:1 (3:2), Barcelona - “Ceuta” – 5:1 (2:0), “Athletic” – “Alcorcon” – 2:0 (1:0).
English Championship
| 1. Chelsea | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 28--5 | 28 |
| 2. Manchester United | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 24--13 | 24 |
| 3. Arsenal | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 24--11 | 23 |
| 4. "MS" | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 15--10 | 21 |
| 5. Newcastle | 12 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 21--16 | 17 |
| 6. Tottenham | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 14--15 | 16 |
| 7. Liverpool | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 13--14 | 16 |
| 8. West Bromwich | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16--20 | 16 |
| 9. Aston Villa | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 13--16 | 16 |
| 10. Sunderland | 12 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 12--13 | 16 |
| 11. Bolton | 12 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 18--17 | 16 |
| 12. Blackburn | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 13--14 | 15 |
| 13. Everton | 12 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 13--11 | 15 |
| 14. Blackpool | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 19--26 | 14 |
| 15. Fulham | 12 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 13--13 | 13 |
| 16. Stoke City | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 13--18 | 13 |
| 17. Birmingham | 12 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 14--17 | 12 |
| 18. Wigan | 12 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 9--21 | 11 |
| 19. Wolverhampton | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 11--20 | 9 |
| 20. West Ham | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 11--22 | 8 |