Mancini and Nasri assess tough task in Europe

The Manager and his latest signing faced the press at the Carrington training ground on Friday morning, and the draw for the group stages of Europe’s elite club competition was inevitably a hot topic.

The Blues will face Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli, and Mancini sees the race for the knock-out phase as a close one.

“It’s the most even group, in my opinion,” he declared, “because there are four strong teams. It will be very difficult and anything could happen.”

Nasri, who has plenty of Champions League experience under his belt, concurred with his new boss but was confident that City could progress out of Group A.

He said, “It’s a tough group, especially having to go to play Napoli because we know all about the atmosphere there. Bayern Munich are a big team, as are Villarreal but we know our quality and I think we can go through.”

When asked if Nasri would be in the mix for the trip to White Hart Lane, Mancini added:

“It’s possible, he’s fit because he had been working with Arsenal for the last month so it’s possible he may play.”