City win massive praise from Mancini

Roberto Mancini has placed Manchester City alongside the biggest European clubs after their strong start to the season.

League leaders City are unbeaten after 12 matches, but suffered a setback in losing 2-0 away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League in a match especially notable for Carlos Tevez’s apparent refusal to warm up.

They have since recovered to defeat Villarreal home and away, and are now second in their qualifying group ahead of Tuesday’s crucial match at Napoli, and Mancini believes his team are one of Europe’s best.

“We started the season very well and this confidence is important for the team,” the Italian said.

“I don’t think we are better than Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, but probably we are at the same level.”

However, Mancini is aware that for his team to be successful, they will have to cope with an arduous fixture list and believes a successful festive period will be vital to their hopes this season.

“We know that the season is long and probably we will arrive at a moment when we lose,” he said.

“Every three days we have a match at the moment and December and January is going to be a crucial time. Winning then will be really important.”

“I hope we continue like this. I’m happy for the players, we’ve been playing well because of them and, at the moment, we have improved a lot.”

“As players, as a team, we are very strong now but the season is long and there will be difficult moments ahead. For this reason, it’s important we know we can score goals and win games in a row.”