Manchester City became the first Premier League side to win in the Champions League last-16 so far this season after Chelsea and Arsenal both fell at the first hurdle. Sergio Aguero, Ya Ya Toure, Sterling will all look to lead the way offensively while fit again captain Vincent Kompany will be the rock that Manchester City’s defence is built on.
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Kiev equalised in the second half before City reasserted their dominance, and Pellegrini’s men will now return to the Etihad Stadium in three weeks’ time for the return leg in total control of the tie.
‘I respect all the competitions but it was important to rest players from that game.
“I’m very happy because it is a very good result”, he told BT Sport.
City produced one of their best performances of the season to put one foot in the quarter-finals with a 3-1 win at the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex. “I hope in this case it will be a lesson for these fans and tomorrow we have a normal game”.
It was the Argentine’s 16th goal in his past 17 Champions League starts.
“In football, you never think all is finished but the third goal gives us more confidence for the second leg”.
“The performance and the result is the important thing, not the team we are playing”.
“We know this club is making a lot of effort to bring in top players but we know we are 100 per cent focused on what is a big chance for us to continue in the tournament”.
“Unfortunately, we deserved to lose tonight. We lost the game but it’s a long time ago”, Zabaleta said.
The slump continued on Sunday with a 5-1 FA Cup thrashing at Chelsea, where manager Manuel Pellegrini controversially selected a side with five teenage full debutants to preserve key members of his injury-ravaged squad for the first leg against Kiev.
The Argentine also fed Yaya Toure the ball in scoring position, but 41-year-old keeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy, who was in the net for Dynamo in a 1999 Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich, kept the deficit to 1-0.
“We had to take a chance but this (Champions League) is absolutely different”.
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Joe Hart made a superb save to deny Kiev goalscorer Vitaliy Buyalskiy in the closing stages, before Toure went on to curl home a brilliant third to give City a potentially pivotal two-goal advantage.
