• Champions League

Mancini slaps down Hart

ESPN staff
September 19, 2012
Cristiano Ronaldo's late goal sank Manchester City at the Bernabeu © PA Photos
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Roberto Mancini has issued a withering response to Joe Hart's criticism of Manchester City's performance in the 3-2 defeat at Real Madrid on Tuesday in the Champions League.

City twice held the lead before eventually falling to Cristiano Ronaldo's late strike at the Bernabeu. After the match, Hart said: "It's not on. You can't go 2-1 up and lose the game. We can only blame ourselves."

The England goalkeeper seemed to be at fault for Ronaldo's winner, letting the ball slip past his dive - and Mancini was far from pleased at hearing Hart had voiced his displeasure at his team-mates' showing.

"Joe Hart should stay in goal and make saves," Mancini said. "If anyone should criticise the team it should be me, not Joe Hart. I am the judge, not Joe Hart."

City have not kept a clean sheet so far this season, and have never looked particularly fluent at the beginning of their defence of the Premier League title - a problem Mancini acknowledges.

"With three minutes to go, we were 2-1 up," he said. "We need to improve the situation because we go too deep sometimes and leave the opponents to play easy on the edge of the box."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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