Micah Richards has revealed that Italy CT Roberto Mancini once ‘nearly caused World War III’ in Manchester City’s dressing room.
Mancini led City to the first title of their Arab ownership in 2012 but, as Richards recalled, he and his teammates ‘wanted to fight’ the coach after he told them they could not do without Yaya Toure.
“We knew how important he was to our team because he’s a player that as soon as he turns it on, nobody in the world can deal with him,” the ex-Fiorentina defender told Goal.com.
Micah Richards has revealed that Italy CT Roberto Mancini once ‘nearly caused World War III’ in Manchester City’s dressing room.
Mancini led City to the first title of their Arab ownership in 2012 but, as Richards recalled, he and his teammates ‘wanted to fight’ the coach after he told them they could not do without Yaya Toure.
“We knew how important he was to our team because he’s a player that as soon as he turns it on, nobody in the world can deal with him,” the ex-Fiorentina defender told Goal.com.
“He’s a big part of our team, and if he leaves us for a month we could lose some vital games.
“I remember [after a defeat at] Everton when Yaya was away, Mancini nearly caused World War III in our dressing room. He said to us: ‘You can’t do without Yaya’. The dressing room erupted. I’ve never seen anything like it before, we all wanted to fight Mancini.
“After we settled down, he said: ‘I said that on purpose because I knew I would get that reaction. And how you have reacted now is exactly how I want you to react every single week on the pitch’.
“From that point on I thought we were going to win the league, no matter what obstacles were put in front of us, we were going to win it.”