City head to the Bernabeu on Wednesday for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final with the tie delicately poised after a goalless draw at the Etihad Stadium last Tuesday.
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Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini believes the scheduling of Sunday’s Premier League match at Southampton will damage his side’s Champions League hopes.
“I always say if you want to be involved in all the competitions you have to have a strong squad, not just in the team with 11 players”.
‘We continue in the Premier League what we are going to do to be in the top four so that was a risk but one we had to take’. City failed in a bid to have the FA Cup tie moved and, as a effect, Pellegrini fielded an under-strength side that suffered a 5-1 defeat “I said about the FA Cup that the format is wrong”, Pellegrini explained.
He said: “Big players can make the difference in these kind of games”.
Yes, the second leg of the Champions League semifinal is huge, but single that out as the one reason for City’s loss is plain ignorance.
“Joe’s had a very good season so far”, Pellegrini said.
“We have two games left now, we should keep focused and try to win the two games to qualify for the Champions League for next season”. “We are not afraid to go away to the Bernabeu”.
“The mentality should be not to give any advantage to the team you are playing”.
The Saints shored up the defence and saw out the rest of the game and the win now increases their belief that they could be playing Europa League football next season again.
“I hope but it’s still a young player, and young players they need sometimes to be more consistent”, said the Saints manager.
And City showed they can play a more sophisticated game in the quarter-final at the Parc des Princes, pulling off a 2-2 draw which set them up for a narrow home win. “I think they are a team that plays football”.
“We start thinking tomorrow about what will be the starting 11 for Wednesday”. David Silva and Yaya Toure could miss through injury but aside from that, any omissions are more likely to be based around conserving them for the second leg of the semi-final clash with Real.
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“I don’t understand why having so many games in this league with so much interest why we can not play 24 hours earlier, at least the same as Real Madrid”. “We feel his affection, we know he’s in a period of adaptation, but things have come together very quickly and I’m really happy for him”.
