Barry friendship cast aside by Petrov
Tuesday 27th April 2010, 9:30AM BST.
Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov has warned former team-mate Gareth Barry friendship will be put to one side when the pair locks horns in Saturday’s top-four showdown.
Martin O’Neill’s fifth-placed men head to Manchester City for the eagerly-anticipated clash a point ahead of Roberto Mancini’s side, with their opponents having played a game less.
Only a win will do for the claret and blues, who are currently level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham, and Petrov insists there will be no room for sentiment against old pal Barry, who controversially moved up the M6 last summer in search of Champions League football.
The former Celtic star said: “I still speak to Gareth a lot, I think he still keeps in touch with most of the players. We’ve kept our friendship but when we get into a game it’s totally different because we both want to win it.
“Gareth has got high ambitions and we have high ambitions. They’ll go out wanting to win the game and we’ll do it as well. In the end, other teams can make mistakes and it’s up to us to get enough points to finish in that top four.
“What’s going to happen? We’ll see. Like I said four weeks ago people were writing us off but all of a sudden we’re back in it, so we’ll see in the end.”
Petrov, who captained Villa to victory in Sunday’s Second-City derby, admits reaching what O’Neill has described as the ‘holy grail’ would represent a fairytale ending to the season for the club.
The skipper said: “It would be very special, not just for me personally but for the club, the players and the fans as well because they’ve been waiting for a long time. The pressure is on all of the clubs involved because we all want to get there and when you want to get there you’re going to have nervous moments.
“Like on Sunday, Birmingham had their spell at the start of the second half and it could have gone either way.
“In the end we won and battled like we have been doing all season.”
UK Sport
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