Pellegrini ‘very satisfied’ as Man City ‘dominate’ PSG

Scott Anderson
Manuel Pellegrini: Critical of Premier League over Southampton scheduling

Manuel Pellegrini: Critical of Premier League over Southampton scheduling

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini says his team “dominated the game” as they beat PSG to qualify for the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in their history. 

City forward Kevin De Bruyne scored a stunning 76th minute winner to seal a 1-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium on the night, securing a 3-2 aggregate win.

City started the game off nervously with striker Sergio Aguero missing a first half penalty, and goalkeeper Joe Hart was on hand to deny Zlatan Ibrahimovic on numerous occasions to keep his side in the match.

De Bruyne curled a stunning effort into the bottom corner from the edge of the area to claim the win for City, sending them into the Champions League semi-finals for the first time.

City boss Pellegrini was full of praise for his side as they knocked out the French champions to progress to the next round.

Speaking after the match, Pellegrini said: “I am very satisfied, not only because we won the game and qualified for the semi-finals, but because we won in the style of play we want. We didn’t want to draw 0-0, we showed from the start we wanted to beat PSG.

“Kevin de Bruyne is an important player for us, we deserved a goal before he scored. We dominated that game from the beginning until the end.

“I trust my team so much, the penalty miss from Sergio Aguero was not the best moment. Once again, this team demonstrated the character and personality of a big team.”

City have been heavily criticised in recent years for their failure to reach the quarter-finals stage of the competition, but Pellegrini says he disagrees with the critics.

“I never understand the criticism we get,” said the Chilean. “We beat Bayern Munich in my first season and lost against Barcelona in the round-of-16.

“In the second season, we didn’t play well but beat Bayern Munich again and Roma, then we lost to Barca again. This season we won the group and now we beat PSG.

“I really don’t understand the criticism or they don’t understand Barcelona have better players,” he added.

“For me, now it is important to beat Chelsea and this club deserves to play in the Champions League.”