race for Falcao?

The international ‘break,’ may be upon us, but Roberto Mancini has shown that he has no intention of taking his eye off the ball as he sat in the stands at Vicente Calderon on Sunday.

According to Mark Ogden of the Telegraph, the City boss was on a personal scouting mission as he watched alleged transfer target Radamel Falcao help his Atletico Madrid side overcome Malaga in the Spanish capital.

“Mancini’s presence at Atletico’s 2-1 weekend victory over Malaga, in which Falcao scored his eighth goal in six La Liga games so far this season, highlighted growing interest in the former Porto striker among Europe’s leading clubs,” writes Ogden.

Despite the Italians presence at the weekend, it seems he will have a fight on his hands if he is to peruse the in-form striker.

“Mancini’s visit to Estadio Vicente Calderon has done little to unsettle Atletico, however, with president Enrique Cerezo insisting that the club’s position on the player is unchanged,” continues Ogden.

“Chelsea’s interest in Falcao is long-standing, dating back to Andre Villas-Boas’s reign as manager, and the European champions are believed to be Falcao’s favoured destination next summer, when Atletico are expected to sell for a figure in the region of £45m.

“However, Atletico are determined to hold onto Falcao, who scored 36 goals last season until the summer, in order boost the Europa League holders’ prospects of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign.”

Of course, if there are any developments on this in the coming weeks, we will be first to let you know.

Elsewhere this morning, West Brom’s James Morrison has called on his team to be “smart,” when the Blues travel to The Hawthorns a week on Saturday.

The Baggies were one of the few sides to take any points from City last season, drawing 0-0 at The Hawthorns on Boxing Day and Morrison told the Birmingham Mail there’s no reason why they can’t do the same this time around.

“It’s a tough game for us next Saturday,” the Scotland midfielder admitted.

“I remember last season we defended like lions and after that game it killed us for a bit. We couldn’t win after that because it took a lot out of us.

“We’re going to have to do the same again and be smart against them.

“At the start of the season we wanted to make this a tough place to come and improve on our home form.

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