Football | The Guardian
Football transfer rumours: Mario Balotelli to return to Manchester City?
Today’s fluff is feeling festive
Pep Guardiola is helping Raheem Sterling to fulfil his potential, no doubt
about that. The same goes for John Stones. He has even turned Fabian Delph and Sergio Agüero into better players, which, for different reasons, didn’t seem possible. But still, like Guardiola himself, the Mill demands more. We’re not going to claim Guardiola will remain an unproven managerial talent until he guides, say, Chesterfield to League Two glory, but we would like to see how he copes when faced with a really challenging puzzle, all the same. Let’s see him, for instance, turn Mario Balotelli into the world beater he has occasionally hinted at becoming.
Related: Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
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Alejandro Moreno explains why Lionel Messi will be the X-factor in El Clasico after a difficult match against Deportivo.
ESPN FC is "OnScene" at the world's biggest club football game: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, which kicks off on Dec. 23 at 12 p.m. GMT / 7 a.m. ET.
Barcelona go into this weekend's Clasico with a six-point lead at the top of the La Liga and an 11 point lead over Madrid, albeit having played a game more... But a Madrid win (after their success at the Club World Cup) would open up the title race again.
Here's all the latest buildup from the ESPN team and our correspondents Sam Marsden (Barcelona)...
