City stopper lays into rivals.
Check in to Aston Villa vs Manchester City
Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta has said that he thought Wayne Rooney was the only player to make any difference for Manchester United during last weekend’s 4-1 victory, Sky Sports reports.
And his admission comes just days after City skipper Vincent Kompany suggested that he and his teammates wanted the victory more than their United counterparts did.
Rooney was one of the only United players to come out with any credit and Zabaleta believes his work-rate in the game dispelled Rooney’s claim that Liverpool represented a bigger match for United than taking on City.
“I saw Rooney. He was one of their main players, he tried more than anyone else in the Manchester United team,” admitted Zabaleta
“He says Liverpool is still the big game. But I saw him working so hard, so probably it proves this game is just as important to him as United against Liverpool.
“When the game is like that, and you see the team playing like that against a team like Manchester United, you know it’s a special game.”
Zabaleta also claimed that the win over United will give Manuel Pellegrini and his new signings a boost as they look to wrestle the Premier League title back out of the hands of their neighbours.
“This result has helped the manager, his staff and all the new players,” said Zabaleta.
“Winning like that gives you confidence.
“It should help the team to play much better collectively than we have done.
“If we carry on playing like that in such a big match, we have a lot of chance to fight for the title.
“But we have to be ready to play every game the same way. Sometimes we talk about mentality and focus on every game in the Premier League because we know how important it is.
“It is true the way we played in the last games was different so we must try to keep the same intensity as it was against United.”