Roberto Mancini will be cheering on Manchester United today as he eyes a "perfect" end to the season and an FA Cup showdown with Manchester City's great rivals.
The Italian will watch United's eagerly-anticipated FA Cup quarter-final clash against Chelsea later this afternoon safe in the knowledge that his side are already in the hat for the last four.
Carlos Tevez's hat-trick inspired City to a 5-0 thrashing of Barnsley on Saturday and means the club are still on track to become only the fourth team in history to win the cup without conceding a goal and first since Bury in 1903.
Turning his attention to the possibility of a second Wembley visit in three years in May, Mancini said: "I don’t know who we will play, it could be [Manchester] United, Chelsea, Wigan - when you are in the semi-final or the final of the FA Cup you play against good teams," he said.
"It [a final between Manchester United and Manchester City] could be perfect because in the last two years United and [Manchester] City have been the best teams in England."
Currently 12 points behind United in the Premier League table, City hopes of retaining their crown, snatched in dramatic fashion on the last day last season, appear slim. But Mancini is refusing to throw in the towel yet.
“The Premier League has not finished - we never give up, we have to win the next game to get to the final of the FA Cup and if we win the competition it will be a great achievement," he said.
“It is good to play at Wembley and this is the second time in the FA Cup and we want to play there twice if it’s possible."
Meanwhile, Mancini has joked that he would be happy for hat-trick hero Tevez to get arrested more often if it meant he kept scoring hat-tricks.
On Thursday evening, Tevez was arrested on suspicion of driving while disqualified, which carries a maximum punishment of six months in prison.
The Argentine has not been charged and is due back at Macclesfield police station on Tuesday. And clearly, Tevez's problems are not much of an issue for Mancini.
"It is his problem. Not ours," said Mancini. "But if it has this effect on him I hope the police can stop him every day. After this he scored three goals. I hope next Friday too."
Tevez also created goals for Aleksandar Kolarov and David Silva as City romped to their biggest win of the season. The former West Ham striker now has 15 goals for the season, and Mancini wants Tevez to stay on the scoring trail.
"It is important that he continues to score because we need his goals in this period of the season, and also for the cup," said Mancini.
Less clear is Tevez's future. After ending his infamous stand-off over a proposed move to AC Milan in January 2012, there has been talk of an extension to a contract due to expire at the end of next season.
However, so frequently has Tevez spoken of his wish to return to Argentina, Mancini cannot be sure that signing the extension will happen.
"I don't know what will happen in the summer," said Mancini. "Carlos has another year on his contract but many times he has said he wants to go back to Argentina. It depends on him. At this moment we can say nothing. Our focus should just be on the last two months."
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