Man City without Mangala against Tottenham

The France international defender picked up a muscle injury while on duty with les Bleus but is expected to be fit to travel to CSKA Moscow in the Champions League on Tuesday

Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala has been ruled out of Saturday's Premier League match against Tottenham.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini confirmed on Friday that the centre-back had returned from international duty with a muscle injury that will keep him out until Tuesday's Champions League fixture at CSKA Moscow.

Mangala played 90 minutes in France's 2-1 win over Portugal but did not feature in Tuesday's 3-0 victory away to Armenia.

"We have just a small problem with Mangala, a small muscle injury, but I think he will without any problem be fit for Tuesday," Pellegrini told the press.

The Chilean also revealed that Yaya Toure had only returned from his spell with Cote d'Ivoire on Thursday and that a decision will be taken over the midfielder's involvement on the day of the Tottenham game at the Etihad Stadium.

City put 11 goals past Tottenham last season, winning 6-0 on home soil in November, but Pellegrini is taking nothing for granted.

"We are not expecting to score six goals every time we play Tottenham," he said. "Last year Spurs away was one of the best 

games

 we played.

"We hope to play a very good game but it will be very different [to last season].

Bayern obliged to think about signing Reus - Rummenigge

The Bavarians' chairman upset BVB by discussing the forward's buy-out clause earlier this year but he feels that their interest in the Germany international is only natural

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says that Bayern Munich are "obliged" to think about signing Borussia Dortmundattacker Marco Reus.
The Bavarians' chairman provoked a furious reaction out of BVB in August by publicly discussing the Germany international's contractual situation, claiming that the 25-year-old's buy-out clause will drop from €35 million to €25m at the end of the 2014-15 season.
Rummenigge has now admitted that Bayern - who have lured both Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski away from Signal Iduna Park over the past 18 months - are interested in Reus' services."If a German international has an exit clause and his contract is running out, Bayern is obliged to think about him," Rummenigge told Sport 1. "With Marco Reus, his release clause is known.
"Whether we deal with it, I cannot seriously predict. We've talked too little internally about the subject.
"There are many great clubs from other countries who would be interested in signing Marco Reus.
"Of course they [Dortmund] will try to extend his contract. But at the end of the day the player will decide what he wants."
Reus still has three years to run on his current deal with Dortmund and coach Jurgen Klopp is confident that the former Borussia Monchengladbach ace will commit his long-term future to the club.

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Suarez: Barcelona Clasico debut is fate

The attacker is eagerly anticipating the match against Madrid and is in awe of team-mates Lionel Messi, Neymar, Xavi and Andres Iniesta

Luis Suarez believes it's fate that he could make his Barcelona debut in the Liga match against arch-rivalsReal Madrid on October 25.

The Uruguay international will be available for selection again when his four-month ban expires on October 24 and he thinks it's no coincidence that he could take on Madrid on his maiden appearance for the Catalans.

"You know, I’m the kind of person who believes that things happen for a reason, and out of all 19 teams in the league, it’s precisely against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu that I’ll make my comeback. There must be a reason," Suarez told Barca Magazine.

"I imagine what it’ll be like to pull on the shirt, to be with the rest of the team in the dressing room before the match, getting kitted up to play, and as chance would have it, in such a stadium. It’s a huge coincidence but I’m looking forward to the experience.

"It hasn’t sunk in yet. I don’t believe it’s true yet. I did play 15 minutes in the 6-0 Gamper win over Leon, but to be honest, it felt like I was a guest player. I didn’t really feel like a Barca player. I’d only just arrived in time for the Gamper and I was still a bit nervous."

Attackers such as David Villa and Thierry Henry struggled at Camp Nou as they had to settle for a position on the wing rather than their preferred No.9 position, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic also failed to make an impact at Barcelona.

Nevertheless, Suarez does not fear that he will encounter similar problems and is ready to play wherever head coach Luis Enrique needs him.

"Some people see me as a centre-forward and others as a forward, but even if I play at centre forward I never stay there all the time. I’m always moving around and don’t like to be still.

"When we have the ball, I like to move all around the attack. I don’t just want to be in the area. But you have to listen to what the coach wants and asks for and try to help the team however you can.

"What a striker likes best is to score goals and doing that depends on their quality, their confidence, their instinct at the right time, opportunism. But a striker is also a team member and in my case I also like making nice moves and providing passes for my colleagues to score.

"Although some people might not believe it, there are strikers who prefer to set up a goal for a team-mate if they are better positioned. In the teams I’ve played for, I’ve always tried to help not only with goals but also with assists."

The Uruguay star also had his say on the quality of his team-mates and admitted that he is thoroughly impressed by what Lionel Messi, Neymar, Xavi and Andres Iniesta are capable of.

"The quality of the players here is incredible. It’s admirable. You watch the games and see how good the players are and training with them confirms what you’ve seen in those matches.

"To see the passes that players like Leo, Neymar, Xavi and Iniesta make! They’re all top quality players and when you think it’d be impossible for them to make a pass, you are stunned to see that they do.

"Sharing training and day-to-day life with those people is spectacular."

Di Maria was greedy - Ancelotti

The Italian coach has explained Madrid's decision to offload the midfielder, while voicing his admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo

Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that Real Madrid decided to cash in on Angel Di Maria this summer due to the Argentine's hefty wage demands.

The versatile midfielder played a key role in Madrid's successful Champions League campaign last term as they at last won La Decima.

However, Di Maria was then sold to Manchester United in a deal worth €75 million after talks over a contract renewal broke down.

"Di Maria demanded a lot of money and preferred to leave in order to earn more elsewhere. The club simply couldn't give him the money he wanted," Ancelotti told Cadena Cope.

"There are times when a club has to say no. You cannot change the club's policy for just one player."

The Madrid coach also had his say on Cristiano Ronaldo and insisted the Portugal international is the best player he has ever coached, while admitting that it is not an easy decision to rotate the attacker.

"I have coached Zinedine Zidane and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but I think Ronaldo is the best player I ever trained.

"It's never an easy decision to rest him. He nearly always scores when he plays and you almost start each game 1-0 up when he starts. He is a great professional."

Ancelotti then went on to discuss the signing of James Rodriguez and stressed that the former Monaco man is worth his €80m pricetag, while dismissing claims he is being forced to play the forward to satisfy the Madrid hierarchy.

"James is worth the money. When you pay €80m, it's because you think a player is worth it.

"If the president told me to play someone, I'd step down right away..."

James has netted once in seven La Liga appearances so far, while creating two more.

Schurrle: Losing isn’t in Mourinho’s vocabulary

The Chelsea boss teaches his side to “play like men” according to the German forward, who says he has improved immeasurably as a player since joining the west Londoners

Chelsea attacker Andre Schurrle believes Jose Mourinho has transformed his mentality and says the Portuguese’s will to win is rubbing off on him.

The Germany international was Mourinho’s first signing upon his return to Stamford Bridge in 2013 and has started four of the Blues’ seven Premier League encounters this term.

And Schurrle has praised his managers’ fierce hatred of defeat, claiming the former Real Madrid boss even instructs the players to commit fouls, and is confident he is developing the skills needed to become a world-class player.

“Jose Mourinho has taught me a different style of play and a different way of thinking to reach the world-class level someday,” Schurrle told SportBild.

“To him, finishing second is a failure. He doesn't know the word ‘losing’. That's how he holds his talk before the matches. His thinking is impressive - as impressive as the way he gets his message across.

“He challenges you to be robust on the pitch, to play like a man. To commit a foul. I feel much better since joining Chelsea and I have become much more confident.”

Unbeaten Chelsea currently sit top of the Premier League table, while Schurrle has bagged goals against Burnley, on the opening day of the season, and Manchester City.

Facebook teeming with lonely hearts

NEW YORK: The feeling of loneliness is bringing more people in search of friends to Facebook, in stark contrast to the view that the social networking site makes people feel isolated, revealed a research.

According to researchers, Facebook does not cause loneliness and people use the social network in an effort to feel more connected.

“Compared to non-lonely people, lonely people spend more time on Facebook. Lonely individuals who are shy or have low social support may turn to Facebook to compensate for their lack of social skills and/or social networks in face-to-face settings,” explained Hayeon Song, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in the US.

To reach the conclusion, the team analysed a collection of studies to find that a connection between Facebook and loneliness exists.

They found that the lonelier someone is, the longer he or she spends time on Facebook.

“The interesting point of this study is that it both supports and corrects the original internet study, which is one of the most influential studies in internet research and was produced by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University,” stressed Song.

“To the question of whether or not the internet increases psychological dysfunctions, such as loneliness, the internet study suggested that internet use has detrimental effects. Our study supports this in that internet use is associated with loneliness,” Song maintained.

“However, we found the previously suggested causal direction to be erroneous: lonely people spend more time on the internet rather than internet use making people lonely,” the researchers concluded.

Trade deficit widens by 45%

ISLAMABAD: In a worrisome development, Pakistan’s trade deficit widened by 45% to $6.5 billion in the first quarter of this fiscal year on back of significant contraction in exports and double digit growth in imports, bringing foreign currency reserves under pressure. 

The trade deficit gap between imports and exports, from July through September this year was $2 billion higher than the projections made by International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF had projected $4.48 billion trade deficit for July to September period.

Pakistan’s exports contracted by 10.1% in the first three months and stood at only $6 billion to $680 million lower than the exports made in the comparative period of the last fiscal year, according to figures released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

The reduction witnessed despite much-trumpeted Vision 2025 of the Planning Commission that promises to take the exports to $150 billion in next ten years. To achieve this overambitious goal, the country has to increase the exports to $38 billion this year from the last year’s level of $25 billion.

Contrary to contraction in exports, Pakistan’s import bill increased to $12.5 billion in the first three months, showing an increase of $1.34 billion or 12% growth over last year’s first quarter imports. The IMF had projected that Pakistan’s imports would grow to $10.7 billion in first quarter –an assessment that went off the mark by $1.84 billion.

The result of contraction in exports and double-digit growth in imports was the trade deficit of $6.5 billion –showing an increase of 45.1% or $2.1 billion trade deficit in first quarter of the fiscal year.

The worrisome trend suggests that the current account deficit –the gap between external receipts and payments, would be far higher than the budgeted number of $2.8 billion or 1.1% of Gross Domestic Product, according to an economist working with a government agency.

He said the first quarter figures were not surprising as these were the outcome of exchange rate rigidity. The exchange rate rigidity results into higher demands for imported goods and fall in exports. The government has made its budget on the assumption of Rs100 to a dollar exchange rate parity, according to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. However, the IMF’s projections show that the real value of rupee is at Rs114 to a dollar.

The independent analysts say that as the government has started facing difficulties in getting foreign loans, the result of the widening trade deficit would be erosion of foreign currency reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan. By October 3, the official reserves stood at $8.8 billion as against the IMF’s projection of $10.9 billion for the first quarter of current fiscal.

The national planners have projected a 5.8% growth in exports and 6.2% growth in imports for the current fiscal year. The imports for the current fiscal year have been projected at $44.2 billion as against $26.99 billion exports, showing the trade deficit of $17.2 billion.

Yearly statistics

The yearly trade figures depict a gloomier scenario. In September alone the trade deficit widened 102.7% over the same month of the last year. As against a trade deficit of $1.17 billion in September last year, the deficit ballooned to $2.38 billion last month, according to the PBS.

As against $2.6 billion exports of September last year, the receipts from exports were $2.2 billion last month, showing contraction of 16.7%. However, the imports in last month grew to $4.6 billion –higher by about one-fifth over imports in the same month of last year.

Monthly statistics

On a monthly basis, the trade deficit in September contracted 15.2% over August due to contraction in imports and 14% growth in exports, data from PBS showed.