Source: Liverpool_Echo
Manchester City aiming for top spot as Aleksandar Kolarov continues journey from war-torn Serbia
MANCHESTER CITY will aim to create their own bit of history by beating Everton at Eastlands tomorrow - but for Aleksandar Kolarov it will just be another minor milestone compared to what life as a kid was like.[LNB]The blizzard conditions which swept England yesterday morning and put paid to key Premier League matches at Arsenal and Chelsea mean City will secure top spot on Christmas Day if they can overcome David Moyes' men.[LNB]It is something the Blues have not experienced since the new league was formed in 1992.[LNB]Indeed, the statisticians have to trawl back through the record books to 1929 to last find City in staring down at the pack on such a significant day in the season.[LNB] They would have played two more games than Manchester United, which takes the edge off the situation slightly.[LNB]Nevertheless, it shows just how far the Blues have come in the two-and-a-half years since they were taken over by Sheikh Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group.[LNB]For Kolarov though, it would be a small step in a journey that has taken him from the streets of war-torn Serbia to Premier League riches.[LNB]'Players from Serbia are very hungry to work,' he told Manc, the official Manchester City magazine.[LNB]'We all want to do something because every one of us has some story in their life.'[LNB]Kolarov's story involves dodging bombs dropped during a three-month NATO raid on 'strategic' targets, which unfortunately also claimed civilian casualties.[LNB]The memories from 1999, when the defender was only 14 and training with his boyhood heroes Red Star, still burn deep.[LNB]'I don't have nightmares but I remember everything,' he said.[LNB]'You just want to play football but you can't because there are bombs in the city.[LNB]'The first couple of days you have fear for something. Then every day is the same.[LNB]'Bombs fell near my house. The windows blew in. There was a military airport near my house so that was a target.[LNB]'They bombed bridges, everything. There were concerts on the bridges. But I didn't go. I played football.'
