Robinho has heaped pressure on Manchester City boss Mark Hughes by declaring that benched teammate Elano should be a starter.

Robinho said: "Unfortunately Elano is on the bench. But with all due respect to our other players, when Elano plays the quality of the team is different.

"I live near Elano so sometimes I go to his house to eat for free - that helps me out here!

"I am very happy to be at the same team as Elano. We have a great understanding on the pitch and we played together very well for Santos in Brazil.

"I just hope he can carry on playing his best football here at City and for Brazil."