Samir Nasri

The Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has been slammed by the manager Roberto Mancini, who has said that if his midfielder should have been more brave when it comes to facing the ball because it would have been the difference between them drawing and losing the match.

Manchester City came into the final few minutes of the Manchester derby after having equalised the match in spectacular fashion. The club had come back from being two goals down in the match to equalise in the second half, but they were unable to prevent United from once again taking the lead through a late goal from Robin van Persie.

The goal could have been easily prevented had the Frenchman Samir Nasri stayed on the wall when the ball was struck. Samir Nasri decided to hide behind the striker Edin Dzeko in the hope of avoiding the ball hitting his face. In the end, the ball deflected off him and went into the goal. This was a result that meant that Manchester City were now six points behind leaders united in the table. The prospect of them retain the title this season now looks difficult. Mancini has said that players need to have a great will to win, which will allow them to put their face in front of the ball if needed.

“We dominated the second half but we can’t concede a goal like we did in the last second. If we need to put the face in the way, we should put the face. In the history of football, there are some teams who won a championship for this reason. I won a championship with Lazio for this reason. I’m really upset that we lost this game,” said Mancini after the match. Roberto Mancini is now under pressure after falling behind United in the title race.