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MANCHESTER, England, April 1 (Reuters) - Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has promised to change his temperamental behaviour and will return to the squad this weekend after being dropped, his manager Roberto Mancini said on Friday.

Balotelli has tested the patience of his boss in his first season at the club, picking up two red cards including one against Dynamo Kiev which played a major part in the side’s exit from the Europa League last month.

He was subsequently left out of the City squad as well as the Italy squad for the Euro 2012 qualifier against Slovenia and friendly with Ukraine.

“All the strikers will be available,” Mancini told a news conference when asked whether the 20-year-old Balotelli would feature in Sunday’s Premier League match at home to Sunderland.

“I hope that after Dynamo Kiev his behaviour will be good. I think he wants to show he can change his behaviour in the last two months because he lost also the national team for two games. It’s not a good thing for a young player like Mario.”

Mancini said he had spoken to Balotelli privately and had been assured that his conduct would improve.

“I think his behaviour for the future will be good,” said the Italian, whose team are fourth in the table with 53 points, trailing leaders Manchester United by 10 points. (Reporting by Sonia Oxley; Editing by Clare Fallon; To comment on this story: sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: Balotelli, behaviour, better, return, Reuters

SAO PAULO (AP)—It took only six matches for Ronaldinho’s return to Brazilian football to be considered a success.

Ronaldinho still isn’t playing the kind of football that twice made him the FIFA player of the year, but on Sunday he scored a decisive goal and lifted his first trophy since joining Flamengo after 10 years in European football.

“I’m euphoric,” Ronaldinho said after Flamengo’s 1-0 victory over Boavista in the Guanabara Cup final. “This is how I want to make history with Flamengo, scoring goals and winning titles.”

The goal in the Guanabara Cup—the first stage of the Rio de Janeiro state championship—was Ronaldinho’s third since making his debut with the popular Brazilian club following a transfer from AC Milan in January, a move that brought him back to Brazil after thriving with some of Europe’s top clubs.

“I came to Flamengo at the right time,” the 30-year-old Ronaldinho said. “I’m very motivated to start playing well again and to be happy again.”

Ronaldinho was FIFA’s player of the year in 2004 and 2005 with Barcelona, but was struggling recently with AC Milan and decided to return home to revamp his career.

“My goal is to return to the national team as soon as possible,” he said. “I’ll keep working hard.”

Ronaldinho is yet to have a stellar performance since his debut with Flamengo on Feb. 2, but the club has won five of the six matches he played.

He scored his first goal with Flamengo with a penalty kick against Boavista in the group stage on Feb. 6, and his second came with a header against Murici in the Brazilian Cup on Feb. 16.

The 71st-minute goal on Sunday came at a crucial moment for Flamengo, which was dominating the match but was having difficulties getting past the opponent’s tight defensive scheme at the Engenhao stadium in Rio.

He curled a right-footed shot over the wall, striking it so perfectly that he began running to celebrate even before the ball hit the net. He ran near the sideline with several teammates lined up behind him, all dancing together.

The playmaker was praised and hailed in headlines across Brazil’s top newspapers on Monday.

“Ronaldinho decides with masterful goal,” the Lance sports daily said.

“Ronaldinho gives Flamengo the title,” read a front-page headline in the O Globo newspaper in Rio.

Ronaldinho signed with Flamengo in January after a controversial negotiation that involved two other Brazilian clubs, Palmeiras and Gremio, where he started his career. Ronaldinho’s agent and brother Roberto Assis negotiated with the three clubs for several days before announcing Ronaldinho’s decision to join Flamengo until the 2014 World Cup, which will be played in Brazil.

Labels: already, Brazil, return, Ronaldinhos, success

By Simon Evans

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry says he cannot get the club out of his system and would relish a return to north London.

Henry, now playing in Major League Soccer (MLS) with the New York Red Bulls, is Arsenal’s all-time leading scorer with 226 goals but left the club for Barcelona in 2007 and moved to the U.S. after three seasons in Spain.

“I love the club. Unfortunately we know I had to leave the club, for reasons I have explained many times, but although I left Arsenal you never really leave Arsenal,” he told Reuters in an interview.

“Whenever I go back I feel like I have gone home, it’s a big family and I became a fan of the club.

“I knew what it was like to beat Manchester United, I knew what it meant to the fans when we were playing against Tottenham, I knew all that, you don’t get that from one or two years, you need to live and breathe Arsenal to understand that.”

Henry trained with Arsenal, who lost to Birmingham City in Sunday’s League Cup final, during the U.S. off-season in January and maintains a close friendship with manager Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal were expected to win a first trophy since 2005 on Sunday, only to stumble against Birmingham, but Henry says Wenger would be a tough act to follow when the Frenchman, the club’s manager since 1996, eventually moves on.

However, he would like his name to be in the frame.

“It goes without saying, I would love to go back there. I hope one day I can go back, I love that club and I just want to give as much as possible to this club, after what that club gave me,” Henry, who missed Arsenal’s FA Cup win over Manchester United six years ago because of injury, said.

“I know that the day Arsene leaves is going to be a difficult one, I don’t know who can replace him. That is going to be hard. Not only the winning part of it but what he was and what he is for the club and the way he transformed the club.

“Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira amd Tony Adams were all part of it and I am sure if you ask them if they would like to come back and do something with the club they would all tell you yes. But if one day, they want me, I have joked if I go back to be the kit man or the water boy, I don’t mind, I just want to be back one day. When I don’t know— I just want to be back.”

ATTACKING MENTALITY

While the silverware has dried up, Henry said Wenger’s legacy would be about stylish football as much as trophies.

“If you talk to any Arsenal fan, or even non-Arsenal fan, they will tell you they will watch Arsenal because they know they are going to see a football game,” he said. “No disrespect to other clubs but they will enjoy watching the game.

“That is what Johan Cruyff did for Barcelona too—he brought that attacking mentality, that Dutch way, playing with wingers, playing the ball on the ground and Arsene did the same.

“To do that you have also to give credit to the club because you need your manager to be there for a long time, you can’t have a manager for five years and expect him to put his identity on the club.

“Arsene did that, he won but the club was also intelligent enough to see what he was doing and give him time to build something and now everybody talks about the ‘Arsenal way’ of playing the game and that is really because of him.”

One player who has impressed Henry with his ability to play that way this season is 19-year-old midfielder Jack Wilshere.

“I wouldn’t say I was surprised because I knew the guy was very talented but I will say that he looks more mature than I thought he would look at this stage,” Henry said.

“He is good on the ball and he isn’t scared to put his foot in. He has great vision on the ball, he is an Arsenal player — that means, he wants to play with short passes, great vision. What a great thing for some of the guys in England that he is English—that is a great boost for them.”

(Editing by Martyn Herman; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: Arsenal, Family, Henry, return, Reuters, still, yearns

By Sportsmail Reporter
Last updated at 9:24 AM on 22nd February 2011

Jose Mourinho has offered his strongest hint yet that he would relish a return to the Stamford Bridge hotseat.

Pressure is mounting on under-fire Italian boss Carlo Ancelotti following Chelsea's alarming lack of form that has seen last season's double winners lose a grip on their Premier League title and dumped out of the FA Cup.

There has been a growing clamour among Blues supporters to see The Special One return after the Portuguese coach was axed by Russian owner Roman Abramovich in September 2007.

Mourinho, who guided Chelsea to two championships, two league cups and the FA Cup during his three-year tenure, revealed he still loves the west London club and is unsure whether he will see out his four-year contract in charge of Real Madrid.

He said: 'I don’t know. I love Chelsea. I was the happiest man when I was there. I was thinking I would be there all my life. So you never know.

'When I sign a contract, I sign with the intention to respect the contract and be happy.'

Mourinho put in a surprise visit to Craven Cottage last week to see Fulham hold the Blues to a 0-0 draw.

Doubts persist over whether the 48-year-old will stay at the Bernabeu beyond the the current campaign. Real are five points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona and Mourinho has encountered a frosty relationship with the club's sporting director Jorge Valdano of late.

Chelsea take on Copenhagen in the last 16 of the Champions League this evening, knowing that the European competition is their last hope of salvaging their disappointing season with silverware.

Mourinho's Real side are also in action tonight, against French outfit Lyon, and the Madrid boss wants to reach the May final at Wembley to defend the European Cup he won last year with Inter Milan.

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Labels: Chelsea, daily, hints, Madrid, Mourinho, return

Beckham trained with Spurs during Major League Soccer's off-season although a proposed loan move fell through.

Redknapp has no immediate plans to sign the 35-year-old when his MLS contract expires in November but a further training spell could be arranged.

"He's been great to have around, he's welcome back any time," Redknapp said.

Beckham had hoped to turn out for Spurs when he began his six week training spell with the club in January but negotiations between the Galaxy and Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy broke down.

And speaking ahead of Tuesday's Premier League game against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road Redknapp admitted that there have yet to be any discussions about a potential return for the former England captain.

"I think he would like to see what the future holds for him," he reasoned.

"I've not looked into bringing him back in November.

"He can still play, he still pick a pass out. I've not looked into bringing him back in November - the chairman would need to look at that, I don't know what the financial side of it would be."

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder should feature in the Galaxy's season opener against Seattle Sounders on 15 March.

And commenting on Beckham's willingness to uproot to London for six weeks of training Redknapp said: "He's a busy lad, his life must be unbelievable, but when you get a lad who wants to come here and train every day when he could be sitting at home having a month's rest, it tells you everything about him."

Labels: Beckham, David, Hotspur, return, Sport, Tottenham

However, even before that player imbalance, for which Hartley should look at himself rather than the actions of the referee Steven McLean or booked opponent Keith Lasley against whom he crazily retaliated, the visitors seemed more constructive and threatening.

Their intent came good when Jamie Murphy raced forward and steered a low shot into the corner after being put in on goal by a misjudged header from Aberdeen defender Zander Diamond.

Until last night, the Fir Park faithful and their club seemed to have been badly missing Brown, as exemplified by the ragged nature of their performance against Rangers at the weekend. Last night, though, marked a pretty remarkable turnaround a mere three days on from that debacle.

Even losing a goal scored by Sone Aluko only two minutes in, McCall's men demonstrated commendable courage to open up and play passes and in so doing seize the initiative. Credit was due to their to manager for that, his selection proving surprisingly adventurous with Murphy in the hole behind a front two of John Sutton and Francis Jeffers, who scored Motherwell's equaliser. The tactics paid off with McCall picking up his second league win since succeeding Brown.

This was a fixture which should have been Brown's first in charge at Pittodrie but the winter weather put paid to that. Nevertheless, while the best part of two months have passed since then, he still found time to mention his debt of gratitude to the Fir Park club in his programme notes, where he said he was "led to believe we achieved the best record of any Motherwell management team during John Boyle's (12-year] reign, and by some distance".

Brown also made that point in pre-match briefings, no doubt to give any travelling fans who intended to taunt him for his treachery something to think about. He needn't have worried.

On a stinking, squally night, precious few travelled up and those who did were too cold, too drookit and, for the opening stages of this game, too down to give him the treatment meted out to the last manager to swap Lanarkshire for Grampian, Mark McGhee.

Labels: Aberdeen, Brown, Craig, haunt, Motherwell, return, Scotsman

Andy Murray conceded he may have returned to competitive action too soon after suffering a comprehensive first-round defeat at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam on Wednesday night.

In his first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final 10 days ago, Murray started well against Marcos Baghdatis before slumping to a 6-4 6-1 defeat. The Scot led 4-2 in the first set but then lost 10 of 11 games as the Cypriot cruised through.

"I have to think about what it was. You have to get the balance right, making sure you come to the tournament mentally feeling you are ready to win it and maybe I didn't feel like that," Murray told BBC Scotland.

"I struggled to adapt, it was very fast out there and Marcos was hitting the ball well, very flat, and I didn't really adjust to the conditions so maybe it's something I need to think about...how to prepare better or if it was too soon."

The world number five felt his serve, which let him down against Djokovic in Melbourne, was again a weakness.

"I got off to a very good start and then started making mistakes I wasn't timing the ball well after that and didn't serve great. That's the reason it went the way it did," Murray added.

Murray is hoping playing doubles with brother Jamie in Rotterdam will help sharpen his reflexes.

The Scottish pair meet French duo Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga later on Thursday.

"I didn't feel particularly sharp on the court and that's something the doubles should help with, short sharp points," he added.

"The courts are very quick here and the first step is very important and that wasn't very good against Baghdatis. I was hitting the ball quite late."

Labels: Association, Murray, Press, quick, return