UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE: Manchester City (0) v Dynamo Kiev (2):IT WAS the final question when Roberto Mancini was asked whether he could ever remember overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit in almost 30 years in the game, that the Manchester City manager put into context the task facing his team in their Europa League tie against Dynamo Kiev.
“Never,” Mancini said. “Two-nil is very different, it’s a very bad scoreline.” Should Dynamo score one, for example, City would need four goals to progress to the quarter-finals. Mancini conducted an angry dressingroom postmortem after the defeat at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy Stadium last week.
The dilemma for Mancini is he must balance his desire to play a strong team with the knowledge that City’s next assignment is at Chelsea on Sunday.
He also touched again on the issue of fatigue, admitting there had been a dip in Carlos Tevez’s level of performance; the Argentinian may be rested.
James Milner could be on the bench after his recent hamstring problem and Mancini reported that Adam Johnson was close to a return after nearly two months out with an ankle injury. However, Pablo Zabaleta is on compassionate leave in Argentina and will miss the tie.
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