Elano Is Our Ronaldinho - Eriksson

They are both Brazilian, but while one wears the blaugrana shirt of Barceklona, the other wears the light blue livery of Manchester City.

The City manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, nevertheless feels that his Brazilian star Elano is as influential in his team as Ronaldinho has been in Frank Rijkaard's Barca.

Elano gas certainly excelled in the Premier League since his £8million summer move from Shakhtar Donetsk, helping City reach and retain third place behind Arsenal and Manchester United.

And Eriksson feels that, like Ronaldinho, Elano brings something 'special' to the game that makes all football fans want to watch him in action.

"If you're a footballer, if you're a fan, you want to see players like that," Eriksson told the Daily Mirror.

"You don't have to be a Barcelona fan to like Ronaldinho. You want to see those who have something special and Elano is one of those.

"You can call him a playmaker. He's not a striker and he's not a midfielder - I think his best position is behind the strikers.

"He is very good at finding space, he can bring in players, he can shoot. He sees things very quickly - sometimes I wonder if he has got eyes in his back.

"It's a gift some players have and some will never have it."

City are only four points off the summit of the Premiership, testimony to their consistency so far this season, but Eriksson is too experienced to be swept along by premature hopes of a title challenge.

However, he regards success in the Carling Cup as a realistic target and would love to deliver a trophy City, who have been starved of silverware since 1976.

"The players have already confirmed they're a good team," added Eriksson.

"How good we are, what position we'll have at Christmas and in May, I don't know. I hope we can go on like that.

"The Carling Cup is a big trophy; it's a ticket to Europe. We are a club that hasn't won anything for a long time, so we want to do well."