MANCHESTER // As Manchester City prepare for their first Champions League knock-out match tonight, manager Manuel Pellegrini says that his team couldn't have had "a better introduction than to face Barcelona".
The Spanish champions arrive in Manchester for what is arguably City’s biggest match of the season, and Pellegrini says his team is ready for the challenge.
“We arrive here in good form and with good momentum,” Pellegrini said. “We are into the last eight of the FA Cup after beating Chelsea on Saturday evening, have a Wembley final coming up fast against Sunderland, and can go top of the Barclays Premier League if we win our outstanding game.”
City returned to winning ways on Saturday when they knocked out Chelsea in a fifth-round clash at the Etihad Stadium. Pellegrini believes that his team’s slight dip in form, during which they lost to Chelsea and recorded a rare goalless draw against Norwich, is behind them.
“After two games without a goal, we played very well at the weekend,” the Chilean said. “We were disciplined and creative and were excellent with and without the ball. Chelsea didn’t have any chances to shoot and that was important to us.”
City welcome a Barcelona team on a high after a 6-0 win over Rayo Vallecano confirmed their position at the top of the Primera Liga. Pellegrini said there will be no major tactical changes for this match.
“I do not believe in talking about tactics – we play a certain way and if we do it to our best capability, then we are very hard to beat,” he said. “We will continue to play in that way.
“We showed that we had not been affected by the loss to Chelsea in the league and we were delighted to make progress in the FA Cup, which is a very important competition to the team, the club and the supporters.”
City now have a chance to avenge last season’s FA Cup final defeat when they take on holders Wigan Athletic in the quarter-finals next month, but Pellegrini is not looking that far ahead, nor is he addressing increasing talk of his side registering an unprecedented clean sweep of trophies this season.
“We don’t talk about the quadruple,” he added. “We’ll continue to try to fight in all of the competitions, but I never talk about the quadruple.”
Pellegrini called Barcelona a “great team”, but believes his side are primed to make further progress in the Champions League.
“Barcelona are also in good shape, so it should be a great game. Tata Martino is a very good coach,” Pellegrini said. “He arrived at Barcelona at a difficult moment, but he is having a great season there, they have reached the cup final and they are first in the league. He’s doing a great job.”
Barcelona have been boosted by Neymar’s comeback from injury and Lionel Messi’s return to form over the last two weeks.
“There are many great players in the Barcelona team, it is hard to pick one out” he said. “They have Xavi, Iniesta, Neymar, Fabregas, Messi. It’s a team full of good players, but so is our team, and Barcelona know that.”
Indeed, City were the one team that Barcelona wanted to avoid, with the Catalan daily paper El Mundo Deportivo declaring “El City, No!” in a front-page headline on the eve of the Champions League draw.
“Of course we respect Barcelona, but we are excited to play them,” Pellegrini said. “If you want to be the best, then you have to beat the best and we have shown our quality already this season by winning away at Bayern Munich, the champions of Europe.”
A full house is expected at the Etihad, and Pellegrini called on the fans to make it a night to remember.
“I am sure there will be a special atmosphere in the Etihad Stadium tonight and our fans will play their part too,” he said. “I welcome Tata and everyone from Barcelona.”
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