ALEKSANDAR KOLAROV insists he is ready for Ronaldo
after taming Gareth Bale this week.
Manchester City’s Serbian defender had an outstanding
night as his country thrashed Wales 6-1 in Novi Sad on
Tuesday.
Bale smacked in a 25-yard free-kick but was otherwise
anonymous as Kolarov completely overshadowed him.
Now the former Lazio left-back plans on doing the same to
Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the Bernabeu.
City travel to the Spanish capital for their Champions
League opener on Tuesday.
And Kolarov said: “I know about Bale from the Premier
League, I’ve played against him
before and I know how good he is.
“But we kept him quiet. He scored a great free-kick but,
apart from that, we did not have
many problems.
“Ronaldo is something different. He’s a special player — with
Messi, he is the best player in
the world. So to play against someone like that will be a big test.
“He played for Manchester United, too, so he will want to score against us.
“But I’ll be confident because City can go to Madrid with confidence. It should be a great night
for the club.
“We are the champions of England and they will know it will not be an easy night for them as
well.”
City have been handed another ‘Group of Death’ in the Champions League after narrowly
failing to reach the group stages last year.
As well as Madrid, Roberto Mancini’s men
must take on Germany’s Borussia Dortmund
and Dutch outfit Ajax — both of whom were
champions in their own country.
Yet Kolarov says it is an exciting time at the
Etihad, adding: “First, we have Stoke on
Saturday, then Madrid and Arsenal. So it’s a
really big week for City. They will be three
very different games.
“We want to do better in the Champions
League and qualify but again we have been
given a really tough group.
“This time we need to start better than we did
last year but everyone at the club is looking
forward to it.”
Kolarov had a familiar face travelling back to Manchester with him this week as international
team-mate Matija Nastasic joined him on the flight.
The 19-year-old centre-back made a £12million transfer deadline-day move from Fiorentina.
And Kolarov reckons Nastasic will prove to be a smart signing.
He said: “I think Matija is going to be a top player. Already, he is playing for our national team
and he is still only young.
“He’s only 19 and he can go on to be one of the best defenders around.
“This move to England will be very good for him. City have signed a very good player.”
