Sir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United’s experience can be decisive in the title race. Here are five league champions in City’s squad that can prove him wrong…
Kolo Toure
The centre-back is a two-time Premier League winner, winning titles with Arsenal in 2002 and most famously in 2004, when the team went through the season unbeaten. If any team knew a thing or two about mental toughness it was the ‘invincibles’ and Toure’s experience of fighting off Manchester United on both occasions could be very helpful to the side. This could be Toure’ final season at City, and he came to the club to win medals, so he will want to leave on a high note
Mario Balotelli
Yes for all his off-field exuberance, Balotelli knows what is required on it to win medals. He didn’t always have the easiest of times at Inter Milan under Jose Mourinho, if he was not fighting with his manager, it was club captain Marco Materazzi, or he was causing trouble by wearing an AC Milan shirt on a television chat show. Despite this, Balotelli left Italy a league champion, playing his part in Inter Milan’s treble winning season in 2010. He was no bit-part player either, appearing 40 times and scoring 11 goals.
Yaya Toure
Yaya Toure is not only a domestic league winner but a Champions League winner too. He spent three years at Barcelona between 2007 and 2010 before joining City. In his first year he could only watch on as Real Madrid won the title, before helping Barcelona win La Liga in 2008-09 and 2009-10. He played 70 times for Barcelona, mainly in central midfield, but he showed he is willing to fill in when required. In 2009 he was asked to play at centre-back in the Champions League final against Manchester United, and was imperious, helping his side to the trophy through a 2-0 win.
Nigel de Jong
Dutchman Nigel de Jong is another league champion in City’s ranks. He began his career at Ajax, where he spent four seasons from 2002 to 2006. It was an era of Dutch football dominated by rivals PSV, but 2003-04 was Ajax’s season. De Jong played more games in this season than any other at Ajax, even scoring six goals along the way. It may be almost a decade since de Jong last won a league medal, like Kolo Toure, but this will only make the pair of them more determined, being so close, to add another to their collection.
Carlos Tevez
Of course, we couldn’t forget Carlos Tevez, city’s wildcard in the title race. After months in exile, he has returned to the squad and could even be in line to make his first team return against Chelsea. Tevez won the Premier League title on two occasions with Manchester United, in 2007-08 and 2008-09, before crossing the divide to join their blue rivals. He also won trophies with Boca Juniors in Argentina, and captained Corinthians to the Brazilian championship in 2005.
This is not to include Owen Hargreaves, Gael Clichy, manager Roberto Mancini, and City employee Patrick Vieira, who have all won league titles in the Premier League, Serie A, or the Bundesliga.
Is Sir Alex being complacent in his comments that United’s experience will win them the league- can these players prove him wrong?
image: © marc_tacoma
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