Sven-Goran Eriksson believes Manchester City are reminiscent of the Lazio team he led to the Serie A title in 2000.
The Leicester City manager spent a year in charge at Eastlands between 2007 and 2008 and after seeing his side beaten 4-2 by the Premier League's second-place side in the FA Cup replay on Tuesday night, feels City have changed radically since his departure.
He likens them to Lazio, the Italian giants who he guided to their first title in 26 years at the turn of the millennium. His team included Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City manager and was bankrolled by the tycoon Sergio Cragnotti. City have themselves been transformed into title contenders by the resources of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed.
Asked if he detects similarities between his two former clubs, Eriksson said: "I would say so, yes. At that time, we bought Christian Vieri and that was the record signing in the world at that time. We sold him 10 months later, for even more money [£32 million (Dh188m) to Inter Milan] and that was the world record again.
"Lazio were spending a lot of money at that time. They were beautiful times. We won the league and maybe we should have won it the year before as well. We won seven trophies in three years which is very good, But if you are a club not Milan, Inter or Juventus to win the league is very good, but you need money."
Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron and Marcelo Salas were other costly additions to a Lazio side that already included Alessandro Nesta and Pavel Nedved. Having managed Mancini at Sampdoria, Eriksson took the Italian to the Stadio Olimpico and is sure City are in good hands.
"He will do very well now," he said. "He always was a coach on the pitch when he played for Sampdoria and Lazio."
Eriksson is impressed with City's squad and unconcerned by reports of training ground rows, arguing that Mancini's time managing Inter has prepared him for the difficulties of dealing with superstars.
"They have the best," Eriksson said. "Big players, big egos; true, but Inter had big players and big egos; Lazio, when I was there, always. It's better to have big players and big egos than not to have them."
Mancini beat his mentor for the first time on Tuesday as City moved into the fourth round of the FA Cup. It sends City to League One side Notts County where, intriguingly, Mancini revealed Eriksson tried to take him.
The Swede became director of football at Meadow Lane following the 2009 takeover by the Munto Finance consortium. Then in League Two, County had the illusion of wealth and Eriksson convinced Sol Campbell to join the club.
After manager Ian McParland's departure in October 2009, Eriksson approached his old ally with a view to replacing the Scot.
"Yes, it is true," Mancini said. "We talk about this sometimes. When Sven talked about Notts County, it was a good situation at the time."
It swiftly deteriorated with Eriksson leaving last February. Mancini, understandably, said he was happy to have chosen City instead.
sports@thenational.ae
Racecard:
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah (PA) | Group 2 | US$55,000 (Dirt) | 1,600 metres
7.05pm: Meydan Sprint (TB) | Group 2 | $250,000 (Turf) | 1,000m
7.40pm: Firebreak Stakes | Group 3 | $200,000 (D) | 1,600m
8.15pm: Meydan Trophy | Conditions (TB) | $100,000 (T) | 1,900m
8.50pm: Balanchine | Group 2 (TB) | $250,000 (T) | 1,800m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | $135,000 (D) | 1,200m
10pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (T) | 2,410m.
Paris Can Wait
Dir: Eleanor Coppola
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Diane Lane, Arnaud Viard
Two stars
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Mubalada World Tennis Championship 2018 schedule
Thursday December 27
Men's quarter-finals
Kevin Anderson v Hyeon Chung 4pm
Dominic Thiem v Karen Khachanov 6pm
Women's exhibition
Serena Williams v Venus Williams 8pm
Friday December 28
5th place play-off 3pm
Men's semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Anderson/Chung 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Thiem/Khachanov 7pm
Saturday December 29
3rd place play-off 5pm
Men's final 7pm
The specs
Engine: 6-cylinder, 4.8-litre
Transmission: 5-speed automatic and manual
Power: 280 brake horsepower
Torque: 451Nm
Price: from Dh153,00
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Almouneer
Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
$3.6 million led by Global Ventures
The biog
Name: Salvador Toriano Jr
Age: 59
From: Laguna, The Philippines
Favourite dish: Seabass or Fish and Chips
Hobbies: When he’s not in the restaurant, he still likes to cook, along with walking and meeting up with friends.
The Emperor and the Elephant
Author: Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Pages: 392
Available: July 11
KEY DATES IN AMAZON'S HISTORY
July 5, 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra Inc, which would later be renamed to Amazon.com, because his lawyer misheard the name as 'cadaver'. In its earliest days, the bookstore operated out of a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington
July 16, 1995: Amazon formally opens as an online bookseller. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought becomes the first item sold on Amazon
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 a share, which has grown about 1,000 per cent at present. Its highest closing price was $197.85 on June 27, 2024
1998: Amazon acquires IMDb, its first major acquisition. It also starts selling CDs and DVDs
2000: Amazon Marketplace opens, allowing people to sell items on the website
2002: Amazon forms what would become Amazon Web Services, opening the Amazon.com platform to all developers. The cloud unit would follow in 2006
2003: Amazon turns in an annual profit of $75 million, the first time it ended a year in the black
2005: Amazon Prime is introduced, its first-ever subscription service that offered US customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year
2006: Amazon Unbox is unveiled, the company's video service that would later morph into Amazon Instant Video and, ultimately, Amazon Video
2007: Amazon's first hardware product, the Kindle e-reader, is introduced; the Fire TV and Fire Phone would come in 2014. Grocery service Amazon Fresh is also started
2009: Amazon introduces Amazon Basics, its in-house label for a variety of products
2010: The foundations for Amazon Studios were laid. Its first original streaming content debuted in 2013
2011: The Amazon Appstore for Google's Android is launched. It is still unavailable on Apple's iOS
2014: The Amazon Echo is launched, a speaker that acts as a personal digital assistant powered by Alexa
2017: Amazon acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, its biggest acquisition
2018: Amazon's market cap briefly crosses the $1 trillion mark, making it, at the time, only the third company to achieve that milestone
MANDOOB
Director: Ali Kalthami
Starring: Mohammed Dokhei, Sarah Taibah, Hajar Alshammari
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: Single front-axle electric motor
Power: 218hp
Torque: 330Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 402km (claimed)
Price: From Dh215,000 (estimate)
On sale: September
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
Veere di Wedding
Dir: Shashanka Ghosh
Starring: Kareena Kapoo-Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania
Verdict: 4 Stars