Shaun Wright-Phillips says spice has returned to Manchester derby and lifts lid on Balotelli and Tevez

Ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby, Shaun Wright-Phillips spoke exclusively to Ladbrokes Fanzone about Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez, the current City team and gave his prediction for Sunday’s match.

Balotelli never got to grips with life as a footballer

The player I get asked about the most is Mario Balotelli. People want to know what he was like off the pitch especially. He was quite a fiery character! With the talent he had, he should have done a lot better and I think he would tell you that himself. He could finish with both feet, take penalties with both feet, he was quick and strong. He was everything you wanted in a striker especially at that time. I just don’t think he ever got to grips with the way of life as a footballer. He just did what Mario wanted to do, rather than what the manager or team wanted.

I personally got on really well with him. I mean we all told him to get it together, but he knew that himself, and he knew what he was capable of. For whatever reason, it just didn’t come out in England when we needed it to. He would so often mess around. I remember in a pre-season friendly he was clean through, but he decided he was going to try to backheel it and he missed the goal completely. I thought  ‘just put the ball in, why are you messing around?’ He would just sort of laugh and shrug it off – that was just his character. That is what made him famous, I guess. Another example was his T-shirt when he scored in the derby – ‘Why Always Me?’ When we beat Man United, he would drive around Manchester with the roof down singing City songs after the game. That was just Mario.

Carlos Tevez wasn’t as mad as people think

I got on really well with Carlos Tevez. He was the only player who used to call me by my full name! He was not only a fantastic player but a nice person off the pitch as well. He always had about seven or eight friends surrounding him. He would never just be on his own. They were the boys he grew up with. He was very tight with family and friends. He wasn’t as mad as people think. He was actually quite calm away from football. He was very chilled and humble. I don’t know if he drank much but I know he didn’t go out too much. He was more of a restaurant man with his tight group of friends.

On the pitch, you would never think that he trained the way he trained. It was like he didn’t care about training. He just saved all his energy for match day. He would just run all day when the game came around. He just had this knack of switching on and be at that elite level all the time.

Tevez’s City debut in the derby was so exciting

Going back to that 4-3 defeat at Old Trafford in 2009 when Tevez had his first game, the whole build-up sticks out in my memory. It was of course Tevez’s first game and then throw in the fact that it’s the Manchester derby, it was exciting. The adverts on TV, the fans, everyone texting you for tickets – the excitement was already there, but the arrival of Tevez added extra spice.

Going into it, we were all very confident that we would get something out of the game. Until that last-minute Michael Owen goal, we were in that position. I think Micah [Richards] got sucked in a little bit and I am the one that hadto try to get back to Owen and just before I got there, he let fly with his left boot and it flew into the back of the net. That is football though!

United should put up a fight, but City will come out on top

The Manchester derby is always tricky to predict. If you go on form right now, you just expect City to win. In a derby that is never the case though and form goes out of the window. This is like a unique one-off game every time it is played. It’s a game where suddenly you understand the fans’ passion, especially people like Marcus Rashford who has been in the system since he was a kid.

Bruno Fernandes has been there long enough to get it too. In the last three or four years, that derby rivalry is on the verge of getting back to that feisty and aggressive nature, whereas before, because there were so many new players, I don’t think they got it straight away. There were a few years when it just felt like another game. The spice is back now and it is great for football. That said, I do see City winning. I don’t think United will play as badly as they have been doing recently though, but I think City win 3-1.

Pep has proved City can handle Europe and Champions League

I would like to say City can win the Champions League, but it’s not very often a team can win it on the bounce. If you look over the years, it doesn’t happen a lot. It will be hard. They have what it takes to go all the way but sometimes it is the luck of the draw as well. Last year, it seemed like they had a tough run of fixtures to get to the final and they managed to do it.

At the minute, Pep Guardiola has shown they can juggle both competitions. I am waiting to see if Arsenal can do that this year, and I think they can. It will be tricky for them especially when you think Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are the ones playing pretty much every game, and obviously Declan Rice is massively important for them.

City look light at left-back

I thought they played really well against Brighton last weekend, especially in the first half. I think it was a massive result for them. We know Brighton are no pushovers and are a very well-respected side. If City were to strengthen, I would say they need a left-back. It’s not often a top team doesn’t have a proper left-back. Other than that, I think the way they play and the players they have, it is all working.