The City boss knows the Portuguese striker is capable of destroying teams virtually on his own so his advice is simple: “If Madrid leave Cristiano at home it’s better!” joked Mancini.
“Players like Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are very difficult to mark. We will have our game-plan, but players like this can score a goal every game at any moment.
“Real Madrid and Barcelona are the best teams in the world at the moment and it’s difficult to pick one just player because they have very strong squads with more than 20 top players.”
Mancini has locked horns with Jose Mourinho before when he was boss at Lazio and Mourinho was with Porto. On that occasion, it was the upcoming Portuguese manager who triumphed.
“I played against him twice when I was with Lazio,” said Mancini. “It was seven or eight years ago in the Europa League. We lost 4-1 in Porto and drew 0-0 in Rome - those were the only times I’ve played against him. I met him in Milan when he went to Inter, as well.
“I am happy for him. I think that to win the Champions League is fantastic and he’s one of the best managers in the world.
“It’s never easy to win whether you’re at Inter or Real Madrid – to win this competition is very difficult for any club. I think he is one of the best in the business.”
Mancini, busy creating history at City, responded to Mourinho’s jibe that the Blues don’t have any!
“It’s clear that we don’t have the history of Real Madrid, but Manchester City have won some trophies and we want to win more in the next 10 years.
“We can’t win like Real Madrid because we would need 100 years to equal some of their achievements, but we want to try to win something and to continue to win if it’s possible.
“In the next 10 years Manchester City will be a top team like Real, but they have a big history and there is a difference.
“If we don’t have injuries for two or three months, we can not only do well in the Champions League and the Premier League, but the FA Cup and the Capital One Cup.”
