Zab wants Robi to stay

Putting any Brazil-Argentina rivalry aside to praise his teammate:

"I think it's vital that Robinho stays with Man City. He is a player who can give us more quality and he means a lot to his team-mates...

"But I hope we can enjoy having him with us for a long time. The truth is, we will achieve our goals faster as a club with players like Robinho here."

It wasn't always that way. Check out this video of Zabaleta tackling Robinho and getting in his face from Espanyol vs. Real Madrid back in 2007/08

Expert analysis of City v Arsenal

Srsly.

Elano opens Gala account

City legend Elano scored his first goal for Galatasaray today, in their 4-1 defeat of Kayserispor.

It was a stunning volley from long range, the sort of goal Elano scored more often for Brazil than he did for City. You can see it here.

Vass backs Elano capture

Here's Darius Vassell, now of Ankaragücü, backing Süper Lig rivals Galatasaray's decision to buy fellow City legend Elano:



Vass scored his first goal for Ankaragücü in a 1-1 draw with Manisaspor last week.

Shirt fitting video

Nice video of the lovely new home shirt being fitted, put on YouTube by Umbro. (Via MCFC Twitter)

Jol's achievement

It is no longer original or interesting to say that Spurs were better off under Martin Jol.

But for a real reminder of how good a manager he is, look at what he's doing with Hamburg. After six games of the season, they are top of the Bundesliga with 13 points. He has brought in Mladen Petric (vanquisher of McClaren), Marcell Jansen (from Bayern Munich reserves) and Thiago Neves (remember him?).

But they have come in to replace two of Hamburg's most high profile players, Vincent Kompany and Rafael van der Vaart, both of whom Jol let go over the summer. Improving a team whilst losing two of the best players is a serious achievement. For we all know now how good Vincent Kompany is. And van der Vaart has done well for Real so far.

This has been a rather long winded way of getting to my main point: check out these sick goals van der Vaart's scored recently.

Bianchi scores again

A thunderous penalty in Torino's 1-1 draw with Chievo last night. From 1.30 on the video.



Meanwhile Georgios Samaras continues to set the SPL alight. (Goals on 5.35 and 9.30)



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He now has nine in eight this year.

Zabaleta's finest hour

Pablo Zabaleta made his name captaining Argentina to victory in the 2005 Fifa World Youth Championship (now known as the U20 World Cup).

His team, featuring Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Fernando Gago, beat Nigeria 2-1 in the final. Soon after the tournament Zabaleta got his big move from San Lorenzo to RCD Espanyol.

Zabaleta's personal triumph, however, came in the semi-final against Brazil. Messi's genius put them 1-0 ahead early on, and the game looked safe until Renato's 75th minute equaliser. Deep into stoppage time, the game looked set for another thirty minutes. Play this video from 1:15 to see Zabaleta's reponse.



If you want to watch more YouTube action of City players scoring in big games, Jô has scored in two Russian Cup Finals and two Russian Super Cups: for links to all that footage click HERE.

Milito scores against Milan

City transfer target Diego Milito scored a penalty today in Genoa's 2-0 defeat of AC Milan.

The Argentine, who could have moved to City but instead returned to his former club, consigned the Rossoneri to their second consecutive defeat. He won the penalty himself, having been tripped by Maldini.

Genoa have bought well this summer: also adding another former City target Matteo Ferrari, and Vincent Kompany's Anderlecht and Belgium teammate and fellow Football Manager legend Anthony Vanden Borre. This evening they announced the arrival of 2 time La Liga and 2006 Champions League winner Thiago Motta.

Rolando Bianchi played in Torino's 1-1 draw at Reggina but did not score.

Milito's goal at 1:40

Caicedo wonderstrike

57 seconds in...

Team-mates

A funny video of our two latest signings, Pablo Zabaleta and Robinho, in their previous incarnations. I posted this in June when I read that one of them may end up a City player.

The São Paulo connection

Our four Brazilians all hail from the same state : São Paulo.

Elano is from Iracemápolis, a suburb of Limeira. Robinho is from São Vicente. Glauber is from São José do Rio Preto. Jô is from the city of São Paulo itself.

It should be little surprise, therefore, that some of our paulistas played together at club level. Elano and Robinho both started their careers at one of the biggest clubs in the state, Santos FC. They both played major parts for the Santos team which won the Campeonato in 2002 and again in 2004.

In 2002, the Campeonato format was for a conventional league followed by play-offs between the top eight. Santos met Corinthians in the final, and in the second leg both Elano and Robinho scored in the 3-2 win. See YouTube below.

Both players left for Europe in 2005, but went on to play together for Brazil in the 2007 Copa America. And in a World Cup Qualifier against Ecuador last October, they spectacularly linked up for Elano to score.



NB I incorrectly referred to Elano, Robinho and Glauber as paulistanos yesterday. According to wikipedia, only those from the city of São Paulo are paulistanos, whereas anyone from the state are paulistas. As such, Jô is the only genuine paulistano, but one of four paulistas. This may seem pedantic, but I wouldn't call someone from Buffalo or Albany a 'New Yorker'. If you're from New York (state or city) or São Paulo (state or city) and have an opinion on this, please add it in the comments.