2011 FA CUP: Mancini’s City ready to take on Pulis’s City
LONDON: The 2011 FA Cup final between Manchester City and Stoke City will be played on Saturday May 14 at Wembley Stadium where Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City will be eyeing to end their four decades of drought of silverware and claim the FA Cup title.
Manchester City had defeated arch rivals Manchester United in the tense semi final played on April 16 by 1-0 and the team is also boosted with their qualification for the next season Champions League when they defeated Tottenham Hotspurs by 1-0. Manchester City have been considered as the under-achiever but the team started to impress since the club was purchased by Abu Dhabi based billionaire Sheikh Mansour three years back.
Roberto Mancini has done well this season with the team and he used the available resources very well to keep the club in the top four of Premier League points table and now they have the real opportunity to grab the Silverware tomorrow and create history.
Tony Pulis
On the other hand, Tony Pulis’s Stoke City had thrashed Bolton Wanderers by 5-0 in their semi final encounter on 17th April and they are now looking to cause upset on Saturday evening at Wembley against season Manchester City.
Roberto Mancini also not ready to consider Potters an easy opposition and he said that they are expecting tough competition in the FA Cup final from them. “This is a big moment for me in my career. The FA Cup is very important, it is my first final and the first time Manchester City have been in it for a long time. It will be a special day,” Mancini said.
Roberto Mancini
“I’m excited by this and very proud for my players. I always saw this game on TV in Italy – Manchester United against Chelsea and I watched when Harry Redknapp won with Portsmouth. Our target was the Champions League and after that we wanted to get into one of the final. We are in the FA final. It’s a good moment for us. “We have got fourth spot but now we should keep our concentration. If we claim six points (from the last two Premier League matches) maybe we can arrive in third position,” Mancini added.
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