Soccer: City must spend up big to become great - Mancini

Roberto Mancini has vowed that newly crowned English Premier League champions Manchester City will splash out in a manner similar to Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona in their bid to win the Champions League.

"Barcelona and Real Madrid every year buy two or three players and spend a lot of money," said Mancini yesterday. "I think for Manchester City it will be the same. We need to improve. We need to have the strength to play Champions League and Premier League."

Real Madrid and Barcelona have spent an estimated total of £105 million ($219 million) each, over the past two seasons, to recruit players.

City now have the spending power to match the Spanish giants and, as Mancini plans his quest for European glory, he is pleased with how his side have dealt with the pressures of the Premier League this season.

He said City were worthy winners of the title because, unlike second-placed rivals Manchester United, they were never beaten heavily by anyone.

"We lost 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 - always games we could win," he said. "Manchester United lost 3-0 to Newcastle and 6-1 against us, but we never had a game like this."

Mancini, 47, added that his relationship with strikers Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli remained good.

"It's not difficult to manage Tevez," he said of the Argentine who refused to play for City for six months after refusing to come off the bench during a Champions League game at Bayern Munich in September. "He's a good guy."

Balotelli received two red cards during the season, and Mancini had words of caution for his compatriot.

"He's young, and for this reason sometimes he can have bad behaviour - it's normal. But it's important for him to understand he can lose his talent."

- AAP