Blues beat Cypriots to go through
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'Manchester City 2-1 Omonia: Shaun Wright-Phillips shows England pedigree'
Man City win 4-2 on aggregate
Shaun Wright-Phillips provided compelling proof of why he is being recalled to the England squad with an inspired display as Manchester City eased into the group stage of the UEFA Cup.
Wright-Phillips last played for his country in February, when he came on as a substitute at Wembley and scored in a 2-1 win. Too many days spent sat on the bench at Chelsea saw his international career suffer an hiatus.
But he has been reborn following his £9million move back to City and capped another man-of-the-match display last night with a fourth goal in six games to justify his long-overdue recall to Fabio Capello's squad which is expected to be announced on Sunday.
Hughes was angry at Omonia's late emergence from the tunnel for the second-half, while his own players waited on the pitch, and made his feelings known to the match officials.
But any frustration he felt was eased in the 48th minute when City took the lead. A goal-kick from Joe Hart was misjudged by defender Marcello Pletsch, who allowed the ball to run to Robinho.
The Brazilian took a couple of touches before picking out his compatriot Elano, whose drilled shot from the edge of the penalty area swept past Omonia keeper Antonis Georgallides for a goal that was majestic in its simplicity.
Going behind on the night seemed to sap Omonia of their self-belief and they went 2-0 down seven minutes later after some slapstick defending presented Wright-Phillips with a deserved goal.
Robinho and Pablo Zabaleta combined to feed the ball to Wright-Phillips, who benefited from two ricochets before burying a half-volley into the net.
Before the game Hughes had talked of "putting the tie to bed early" so he could substitute some of his stars to give them some respite ahead of Sunday's visit of Liverpool.
But Omonia, just as they showed in the first leg in Cyprus, proved resolute opponents.
Omonia pulled a goal back through substitute Rasheed Alabi in the 77th minute with a near-post header from a corner but it was too little, too late from the Cypriots.
Man City: Hart 6; Zabaleta 7, Ben Haim 7, Richards 7, Garrido 7; Elano 7, Kompany 7 (Hamann 66, 5), Ireland 7; Wright-Phillips 8, Jo 6 (Evans 67, 5), Robinho 7 (Petrov 70, 7)
Omonia: Georgallides 5; Ndikumana 5, Pletsch 5, Wenzel 5, Charalambous 5; Zlogar 5, Kaiafas 5 (Alabi 46, 5); Christofi 5, Bangura 5 (Clayton 59, 4), Aloneftis 5; Okkas 5
MAN OF THE MATCH Shaun Wright-Phillips (MAN CITY) 8 England recall must be on the cards
VILLAIN OF THE MATCH Anton Zlogar (NICOSIA) 5 Midfielder was in a terrible mess
ANORAK City defender Michael Ball spent the evening of his 29th birthday on the bench
The Sun say...
'Gerrard will never join City'
DIRK KUYT has told Manchester City’s super-spenders to forget about signing Steven Gerrard — because he is already at a bigger club.
City’s new-found status as the world’s richest outfit has led to impressive boasts over who they plan to tempt to Middle Eastlands.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Cesc Fabregas and Liverpool skipper Gerrard are just three of the world-class names on their fantasy football wish-list.
But Kuyt reckons that, certainly as far as the Reds are concerned, City will never tempt any Anfield stars down the M62.
The Dutch striker insisted: “I don’t think any player from here would go to City, because Liverpool is a much bigger club.
“I’m in my third season here now and I enjoy it every day. I know how big this club is, not only in England but all over the world, and that’s really important for all the players here.”
Money is clearly no object for the Abu Dhabi United Group, which now owns City. But, particularly in Gerrard’s case, Kuyt is convinced they are whistling in the wind.
Liverpool travel to the City of Manchester Stadium when they return to Premier League action on Sunday. And Kuyt believes it will be a case of ‘here’s what you can’t have’ when Gerrard and Co roll into town.
He added: “Liverpool IS Stevie. So, of course, it would be very difficult to buy him. I don’t think he would ever leave here for City.
“I don’t know what value you would put on him but it would be a lot of money. So it won’t be easy for City, especially if they want to sign the really big players. It’s possible. But if you want those already playing for big clubs, that’s the difficult thing.”
Gerrard carved out another little piece of Anfield history on Wednesday, with a piledriver free-kick in front of The Kop in the 3-1 Euro win over PSV Eindhoven to bring up a century of Liverpool goals.
He has insisted he will never leave his hometown club and Kuyt reckons there is no need anyway, as the players can realise all their dreams by staying on Merseyside.
The Reds’ striker, who bagged the opener against the Dutch to leave Liverpool with one foot already in the knockout stages, said: “It’s a great achievement for a midfielder to get 100 goals.
“He’s a great player. Now we just have to make sure we keep going as a team.”
Yet just as pleasing as Gerrard’s ton was the sight of Robbie Keane bagging his first goal for the club since his £20million summer move from Tottenham.
Kuyt admitted: “That will mean a lot to Robbie and he deserves it. He has been playing well in the last couple of games.
“Everyone could see how happy he was with his first goal and, usually, when you get the first one the rest follow. Hopefully, it will be the same for him.
“I think the main thing is we have a lot of players who can score goals. Robbie has his first and we know the rest will follow.
“We just have to keep going as a team. Next up it’s Manchester City and we want to beat them and get another three points.”
And finally today, the Newcastle United saga continues to be one of the biggest stories of this or any season and yesterday it took another turn for the worst...
'Joe Kinnear swears an amazing 52 times in a five-minute rant at the Daily Mirror'
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