Sven: Elano is top-class
01 Oct 2007 - 07:31:26
Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson hailed midfielder Elano as one of the best players he has ever worked with after the 3-1 win over Newcastle United.
The 26-year-old Brazil international, an £8million summer signing from Shakhtar Donetsk, gave his best performance to date in a City shirt and fired in an amazing 30-yard free-kick to seal the victory.
Afterwards, Eriksson enthused: "It is impossible to hit the free-kick any better than that. A centimetre either way and it hits the bar or the post.
"Elano is a great footballer. He can do a little bit of everything. I have worked with other top-class creative players in the past, people like Roberto Baggio and Roberto Mancini, but he is right up there with them.
"When he came here, he was not physically 100 per cent. He was a long way off because he hadn't done anything after the Copa America until he joined us.
"But now he is getting physically stronger and getting better and better. Every time he gets the ball you have the feeling something will happen."