Mancini commits himself to Man City

Posted Monday, April 05, 2010 by theguardian.com

Mancini commits himself to Man City
Roberto Mancini is focused on getting Manchester City into the Champions League.

The Manchester City manager, Roberto Mancini, says he will be at Eastlands next season, when the club could be hosting Champions League football for the first time. The Italian was quick to distance himself from reports linking him with a move to Juventus following the 6-1 victory against Burnley which took City back into fourth place in the Premier League.

Mancini says he is enjoying life in England and, contrary to reports, appears in no hurry to return home. On being told he had described Juventus as "a special club" he responded: "Manchester City is a special club. I never said those things. I am manager of Manchester City and I am happy to stay here."

Instead he is focusing on the last six games of the season and looking to keep Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa at bay in the run-in in order to seal qualification for the Champions League's preliminary round. City have to face Spurs, who relinquished fourth yesterday, and Villa as well as Manchester United and Arsenal.

"We know it will be difficult but we want to win these remaining games," he said. "If we continue to play like this and maybe improve our performance, we have a good chance."

Mancini praised his strikers after City ran riot in the first half at Burnley. Emmanuel Adebayor, Craig Bellamy and Carlos Tevez all scored as the visitors raced into a 5-0 lead on an increasingly waterlogged Turf Moor pitch.

"It is important Emmanuel and Tevez carry on scoring until the end of the season," said Mancini. "But if you have other players who can score as well, it is a bonus. Emmanuel's fitness is improving after a month out and he was better today than against Wigan. I felt if it had not rained we would have got more goals."