Prediction: Manchester City VS Dynamo Kiev

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European Cups - Europa League

Manchester City VS Dynamo Kiev

March 18, 2011 2:00:00 AM

City of Manchester Stadium — Manchester
Referee:‬ Cuneyt Cakir‎

UEFA Referees Committee has confirmed the officials for the Europa League Round of 16 return leg between Manchester City and Dynamo Kyiv to be played in Manchester on Thursday, March 17.

The match will be handled by Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakır, who has been an international referee since 2007. The 34-year-old is no stranger to the Ukrainian team, having been the referee for Dynamo’s 2-2 draw with Drogheda United in August 2008 and their 1:3 win at Gent in 2010.

In Manchester, Cüneyt Çakır will be assisted by his fellow countrymen Bahattin Duran and Tarik Ongun. Hüseyin Göçek and Bariş Simsek will patrol the goal lines, while Suleyman Abay will act as the fourth official.

Prediction: Manchester City 1-0 Dynamo Kiev (Agg 1-2)

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Manchester City:

City's aces trail 2-0 from the trip to Ukraine a week ago, but the Blues manager refuses to give up on a quarter-final place despite the growing pressure on his hard-pressed and injury-reduced squad.

He said: "I don’t think that we should start the game trying to score, score, score - I think that we should play our game and not concede a goal. This is very important.

"We can score two or three goals at any moment. It’s not important to score after five minutes or half an hour. It’s important we play as a team, very strong. Dynamo Kiev will play on the counter-attack and we need to pay attention.

"It’s important that our supporters will be very close with us, like they were in the Reading game. After that we can play our game. I don’t think we have to score after one minute ... we just have to play our game."

City's boss will also be relieved to see the international break offer some of his players a breather following Sunday's Barclays Premier League showdown with champions Chelsea, not least workaholic skipper Carlos Tevez.

Captain Fantastic, who has not been selected for Argentina's squad, has hit a dry scoring spell, with just one goal in his last nine City appearances after firing 20 in his previous 26 games.

Mancini said: "I think Tevez, like the other players, needs to work in the next week because in the last 45 days it was impossible for us to work, and when you can’t work, it’s difficult.

“It isn’t only Carlos whose sharpness has suffered, all the players have. Because if we had 20 or 23 players when we play four or five games in two weeks, we would be able to change six players every game.

“We don’t have that option and when you can’t train it’s difficult to keep the same level for one month or 45 days. That’s the same for all the players, not only Carlos.”

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With City trailing 2-0 to Dynamo Kyiv, the rejuvenated England winger is aiming to make the most of his first-team recall and inspire the Blues to the last eight of the competition.

Now over a problematic back injury, ‘Wrighty’ is just happy to be playing football again.

“Getting 90 minutes under my belt against Reading is the longest I’ve played in a while,” he said. “I’m just finding my feet again and trying to be as positive as possible.

“We believe we can beat Kyiv. If we create one or two chances and we take them, then it’s a whole new ball game. We know we have to go out there and start firing straight from kick off and create as many chances as possible. You never know what may happen.

“It all depends on what tactics the gaffer gives us but we know once we get one chance we have to take it to open the game up a bit more.

“We want to win all the games we play really so the more trophies we can bring back in one year the merrier. If we get a good result against Dynamo Kyiv and Chelsea we’ll be in a good position so hopefully we can maintain the confidence.”

Shaun also revealed he’s looking forward to linking up with Edin Dzeko, believing he can supply the Bosnian with the ammunition to get his City career really off and running.

“Yeah, it would be nice to put one on his head, especially if it’s a vital one for us to score and hopefully go through to the next round.”

After receiving a standing ovation for his efforts against Reading, Wright-Phillips was keen to thanks the City fans’ support and says it means a lot to know they are constantly behind him.

“The fans are always fantastic towards me and they’ve been like that throughout my City career,” he said. “We really need them to get behind us because we’re going to give it everything that we’ve got against Kyiv.

“It’s great we’ve reached the FA Cup semi-finals, but we just need to concentrate on the next game rather than worry about what’s coming up further down the line.

“We’ve got two important games to concentrate on in the next week so that’s our priority at the moment.”

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Jackpot for those follow my prediction.

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