ENYEAMA

Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama has for the second consecutive month won the Player of the Month award in Ligue 1.

The Lille custodian did not concede any goal in the French top flight in November.

Enyeama started November with a shutout against Monaco, which Lille won 2-0. He then kept three clean slates against Guingamp, Toulouse and Valenciennes on November 30.

The player who won the October award got 59 % of the vote ahead of PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who got 32 % and Marseille teenage midfielder, Florian Thauvin, who got 9%.

The best player award will be presented to Enyeama on Sunday, January 12, during their match against Reims.

The Lille shot stopper conceded his first goal in 12 matches against Bordeaux on December 8 after 1062 minutes.

BARCA VS MANCITY;PELLAGRINI

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini is looking forward with confidence after learning his next Champions League opponents will be Barcelona.

Far from being intimidated by the Catalan giants, Pellegrini is already relishing the prospect of a two-legged last-16 tie against the four-time winners in February.

Being paired with Barcelona was City's dubious reward for finishing runners-up to Bayern Munich in their group - a position they could have bettered by beating the Germans by one more goal than they did last week - at the UEFA draw in Switzerland.

But Pellegrini, a former Real Madrid coach, believes Barca should be just as wary of facing his free-scoring side.

The Chilean said: "They know Manchester City is a strong team and it will be difficult for them.

"Barcelona is not the team it was two years ago. We will see how they arrive in February."

City, particularly at home, have been in outstanding form this season.

They scored six against Barclays Premier League leaders Arsenal last weekend, matching the figure they put past Tottenham last month, while they have also beaten Norwich 7-0 this term.

Pellegrini, who took Malaga to the quarter-finals last year, is sure Barcelona will already have taken notice of this, particularly with the first leg at the Etihad Stadium.

He said: "I suppose they know about that but you can't always expect to score five, six, seven goals at home.

"We always try to do it - that's why I am not concerned about what happened in Germany.

"But of course it's an important record and we'll try to keep it up."

Source: PA

SHOKING TRANSFER THAT COULD HAPPEN NEXT SEASON

This source states that the Parc des Princes side have beaten off interest from Juventus, Atletico Madrid and AS Monaco in the chase for the 25 year old Spanish international.

Mata won back to back Player of the Year awards in his first two explosive seasons at Stamford Bridge, scoring 32 goals and providing 49 assists to help the West London side to Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup triumphs.

However Jose Mourinho has opted in the main to use Oscar in preference to Mata this term, with the Valencia man starting just eight of 15 Premier League matches thus far this season.

MONACO striker Radamel Falcao has hit back at reports that he has fallen out with Claudio Ranieri and could seek a January move to Chelsea.

Reports yesterday suggested that despite the public protestations to the contrary a move to England in the upcoming transfer window remained a possibility due to the toxic relationship between player and coach.

But Falcao has now addressed the issue, saying that no rift exists.

He said: "I am very happy here at Monaco. I don't have a problem with the coach, just with my thigh.

"I feel better. I will play again soon. 

"There is a lot of speculation around me, but I have a five-year contract and I'm very happy here."

The Colombian has been absent with the injury since a game against Nantes at the end of November in which he was substituted in the 63rd minute.

Earlier this week Ranieri was forced to deny that he had clashed with Falcao since that match.

He said: "There is absolutely no problem with Radamel.

"But even if I say that there's no problem, some people will still write the exact opposite, so everybody should write whatever they want.

"He should resume regular training on Wednesday and might play again at the weekend. We'll see."

The striker has since been ruled out of Saturday's clash with Guingamp.