Page 4 - Manchester City

6th January 2017. By Edward Stratmann.
Considering Yaya Toure was exiled from Pep Guardiola's plans at the beginning of the season, in large part due to his agent's outspoken, often bizarre comments, it's quite the turnaround to see him cutting a key figure in the tactical genius' plans now.

The calamitous situation all began when Toure's agent, Dimitri Seluk, claimed that Guardiola had a vendetta against his client for not regularly selecting him, before then adding that the Spaniard was "humiliating a great player".

All it took was an apology from Seluk and Toure, who had also been excluded from Manchester City's Champions League squad for the group stage, in November, however, and this gave him the gateway he needed to return to the fold. "I wish to apologise -- on behalf of myself and those who represent me -- to the management team and all those working at the club for the misunderstandings from the past," Toure's statement read.

"Those statements do

28th November 2016. By Edward Stratmann.
Kelechi Iheanacho's meteoric rise from playing on the streets to joining one of the biggest clubs in the world is undoubtedly an inspiration to many back in his homeland of Nigeria.

Born in 1996 in Ogogwe, he developed his love for the beautiful game playing in the streets and watching his stars play in local sports centres on TV. Without a television in his house and with money not in abundance, Iheanacho admitted candidly to the Guardian that he found it tough to watch many Premier League games, which led him to instead spend his time honing those impressive skills that he so expertly showcases today.

"We didn't have a television at home," he said. "Even the people who did have televisions wouldn't have the right channels to show the games. So if you wanted to watch football you had to pay to watch the games at the local sports centre. You would get hundreds of people paying to watch, all at the same place.

"The problem

14th November 2016. By Edward Stratmann.
Ilkay Gundogan headed into Manchester City's match with Middlesbrough last weekend in the midst of a scintillating purple patch of form that had seen him grab consecutive braces against West Bromwich Albion and Barcelona. But while he was happy with the week that was, he wasn't letting himself get too carried away with his achievements, saying: "If you look at just my goals record, you'd have to say this is the best spell of my career.

"But I think I can improve my performances over the next few weeks I'm still not playing at 100% because it does take time after being out of action for so long."

The German international knew that he and his teammates would still face a stiff test overcoming Middlesbrough, however, which he duly noted when speaking to Man City's official website. "Teams set up very defensively against us and

14th September 2016. By Ryan Baldi.
To many observers, joining Nice may have been seen as a step down in the career of Mario Balotelli. After all, the list of clubs on the Italian striker's CV is an impressive one; Internazionale, Manchester City, AC Milan and Liverpool are all teams associated with the top end of their respective leagues, and all regulars on the European stage.

Nice, whose four Ligue 1 championships are all more than 50 years in the past, don't have the history of the Milanese giants or Liverpool, and haven't experienced anything like the recent success of City. But the Côte d'Azur club might be the perfect place for Balotelli to get his career back on track.

In fact, just last year, Hatem Ben Arfa found himself in a similar predicament to the Italian international. Released by Newcastle after a disastrous couple of seasons in the Premier League, including a disappointing loan spell at Hull City, Ben Arfa's stock was at an all-time low.

As

7th September 2016. By Ryan Baldi.
The first Manchester derby of the season will take place on Saturday afternoon (10 September), and with all the changes that have gone on within the city's two footballing mega powers this summer, it stands to be the most box office encounter ever staged between the two clubs.

Sergio Agüero will be missing, due to a retrospective three-game ban levied on the Argentinian striker for an elbow on West Ham United's Winston Reid in Manchester City's last game; and Manchester United will likely be without attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, after the Armenian picked up a thigh injury on international duty last week.

But despite City's loss of their star marksman, and regardless of whether United's £26 million summer signing from Borussia Dortmund recovers in time to feature, there will be more than enough star power on show at Old Trafford on Saturday, with narratives

26th August 2016. By Edward Stratmann.
Having scored an outstanding 23 goals in his opening 33 matches for Manchester City, in his debut Premier League season back in 2013/14, many thought Alvaro Negredo would go onto become a star at the Etihad for many years to come.

Unfortunately, however, this wasn't to be the case for the Spaniard, as his time in Manchester came to an abrupt halt. He would score his last ever goal for the club in January 2014, with reports citing homesickness and personal issues were to blame for his demise, but Negredo vehemently dismisses such claims. "I don't go along with this. I was not homesick," he insisted to the Daily Mail.

"At City, we had a dressing room full of Spanish speakers. Javi Garcia, David Silva, I came with Jesus Navas from Sevilla, then there were Argentines like Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis.

17th August 2016. By Ryan Baldi.
Having played their first Premier League game of the season, a narrow 2-1 victory over David Moyes's Sunderland at the Etihad, the Pep Guardiola era is well and truly underway at Manchester City.

The Catalan coach is renowned not only for the level of success he has achieved in his managerial career to date, but also for the tactical innovations he has implemented. Guardiola takes a unique approach to solving the myriad problems that present themselves within a football match. Rather than rely on the tried and tested formations and strategies, Guardiola is unafraid to try something a little different -- to think outside the box.

At FC Barcelona, his major calling card was the use of Argentine superstar Lionel Messi as a "false nine" -- a positionally unrestricted centre-forward. Up until the point of Guardiola's

25th July 2016. By Edward Stratmann.
It was encouraging to see Aaron Mooy look so comfortable playing against the intensity and quality of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool. The Australian, who's just been loaned out to Huddersfield Town, having recently joined Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, appeared unfazed by the step up in class throughout his 45 minutes of action.

Mooy, formerly of A-League side Melbourne City, rightfully received rave reviews for his excellent performance. The local newspaper certainly didn't waste anytime in voicing their satisfaction with the new signing. "On a night when a sell out crowd came to the John Smith's Stadium, there was one man wearing blue and white stripes who stood out above the rest," wrote Alexandra Porter of the Huddersfield Examiner.

"Aaron Mooy continues to win the hearts and minds of supporters with a string of accomplished pre-season displays to kick off his loan from Manchester City."

From his midfield station, the 25-year-old

19th April 2016.
Not too long ago, we were speculating about Barcelona winning a second treble in a row, or about Paris Saint Germain taking what they've done in France the last few years and translating it into their first-ever Champions League win. Both of those narratives were dashed against the rocks in the quarterfinal rounds, where Barcelona crashed out of the 2015/16 Champions League in jarring fashion and where PSG fell in an upset to Manchester City.

Now, with just four teams and two rounds remaining in the competition, the stakes have been ramped up another few notches. What happened for the UCL's once-guaranteed frontrunners, and what's next for Europe's most prestigious club football tournament? Read on to find out.

Barcelona's Downfall

Heading into the quarterfinals, FC Barcelona seemed like the safest of bets to charge right on through to the semis. After all, Barca have advanced to the semifinals

2nd April 2016.
Luis Suarez has enjoyed nothing but success since making the move from Liverpool to Barcelona ahead of the 2014/15 season. In his first campaign with Barca, Suarez won the treble and was a finalist for UEFA's Best Player in Europe Award. He also got to play alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar in what many have called one of the best front threes in football history. This season, meanwhile, the Uruguayan striker is duking it out with Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo to be the La Liga's top scorer-all while hoping for a second treble in a row for Barcelona.

With all of this success, it would be easy for Suarez to call his time in the Spanish La Liga the highlight of his career. Yet, in