London, Nov 16: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, who is a devout catholic, has claimed a divine intervention from Virgin Mary was the secret behind club’s dramatic Premier League success last season.

City claimed their first league title since 1968 in stunning style thanks to Sergio Aguero’s stoppage-time strike against QPR on the final day of last season.

Mancini reckons his pilgrimage to a holy shrine in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the title run-in turned the tide in his favour.

Mancini made the trip to the town of Medjugorje with his wife Federica and daughter Camilla in March, just as United seized the initiative at the top of the table.

The City boss went in search of mental and spiritual renewal and visited the home of local resident Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic, one of six people in the town who claim to have had visitations from the Virgin Mary in
1981.

He revealed that he had a vivid dream about meeting Vicka ahead of his trip.

“I was in a room with some people, and the visionary Vicka was with me. At a certain point she smiled at me, looking straight into my eyes, so that I tried to see if she was looking at someone else,” the Daily Star quoted Mancini, as saying.

“But, suddenly, she moved towards me, so that, at that point, I had no doubts anymore. She came towards me, she got near, once again she was looking straight into my eyes,” he added.

“Then she kissed me on my forehead. I explicitly felt the sensation of a physical contact with someone I had never met,” he said.

Asked whether his prayers were answered, Mancini said: “I thought and still think so. Something impossible became possible on that day.” (ANI)