Manchester City spurred on to victory over Sunderland by pre-match teamtalk by chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak

Manchester City spurred on to victory over Sunderland by pre-match teamtalk by chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak

Manchester City were inspired by a motivational speech by the club chairman to hammer Sunderland 5-0 on Sunday.

Mr Motivator: Khaldoon al-Mubarak's words of wisdom helped Manchester City move up to third in the Premier League Photo: REUTERS

By Mark Ogden 12:01AM BST 05 Apr 2011

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Khaldoon al-Mubarak challenged the players to qualify for the Champions League and end the club’s 35-year trophy drought this season.

And winger Adam Johnson admitted it “spurred everyone on” to victory over Steve Bruce’s team. The win lifted City to third in the Premier League and opened up a six-point gap with fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who have a game in hand, in the race for a top-four finish.

Prior to Sunderland’s visit, manager Roberto Mancini had admitted he was uncertain whether his position would be safe should City fail to qualify for the Champions League.

With owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan investing more than £350 million on players since buying the club in September 2008, Mancini has been made aware that anything less than a top-four finish would be deemed as failure by his bosses.

And Adam Johnson, who opened the scoring against Sunderland, admits that the expectations of the club’s owner were made clear by Khaldoon during a team-meeting ahead of the game.

“To get into the Champions League would be massive for this club and the chairman, Khaldoon, spoke to us on Sunday morning and outlined what it would mean,” Johnson said. “I think that spurred everyone on for the victory against Sunderland.

“Khaldoon said he was fully backing us and said that everyone was behind us to get that Champions League place. It has been years since anything like that has happened for Manchester City.

“He also said how important it was to win a trophy because we hadn’t won one for over thirty years. It was a really motivational message for us all to push on.”

Barring a Premier League collapse by Manchester United, City’s trophy ambitions this season are now likely to rest with the FA Cup and next week’s Wembley semi-final against United.

But despite the motivational intervention of Khaldoon, a close aide of Sheikh Mansour, Johnson insists the players are comfortable with the club making clear what is expected of them in the final weeks of the campaign.

Johnson said: “Khaldoon has a good relationship with the players and gets involved a lot. It was a good message which spurred us on a lot.

“There have been massive changes at this club over the last couple of years and he is fully behind us in what we are doing.”

City travel to Liverpool next Monday aiming to build momentum in the league ahead of the FA Cup derby against United.

And England international Johnson believes that City should still believe in an unlikely push for the title until either United or Arsenal put the race beyond them.

“We are battling with all the teams and the top two aren’t too far off. A couple of bad results for them and everything changes again,” he said.

“Everyone says that the title is done for us, but two defeats for United or Arsenal and a couple of wins for us or Chelsea and it is back on.

“Anything can happen and I still think that there is a lot of football to be played.

“There are seven games left in the league now and we have just got to keep winning. We have not had a major blip this season, just a couple of bad results.

“Overall we have got to look forward and keep pushing on. We can’t take our eye off the league situation despite the fact that most neutrals are looking ahead to our semi-final against our biggest rivals.”

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was given a glimpse of the threat posed by City at Wembley as he watched the victory against Sunderland from the Eastlands directors’ box.

And Johnson admits that the City squad are relishing the chance to claim a place in the Cup final at the expense of their bitter rivals.

“It will be a massive game, an unbelievable occasion for everyone.” Johnson said. “There is nothing better than playing at Wembley.

“This semi-final will be a massive pressure game and as a player you want to show what you can do. “You have to play in the moment and we know we have a great chance of winning a trophy this season and cementing a Champions League place.”
Telegraph.feedsportal.com