Manuel Pellegrini was in defiant mood as he urged Manchester City to prove they are continental heavyweights by knocking Barcelona out of the Champions League at the Camp Nou on Wednesday evening.
The manager’s position may be under scrutiny because of City’s faltering Premier League defence but Pellegrini maintained his cool demeanour when sending out a message of defiance here, a stance echoed by Yaya Touré.
City trail Barcelona 2-1 after the first leg of this last-16 tie, so know they need to score at least twice against Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suárez and co to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time.
Pellegrini’s side include players of the quality of Touré, Joe Hart, Sergio Agüero, David Silva and Vincent Kompany, and the manager agreed it was time for City to get a result against a European aristocrat. “It is a good opportunity for our team and the only way to prove it is to beat one of the biggest teams in Europe – and we have that chance,” he said.
Kompany has suffered a dip in form and was dropped for the recent victory over Leicester City. As might be expected, Touré backed his captain and reiterated how City must now show they belong in elite company. “Every player have some doubt, some problems, it’s part of football and the year. Sometimes you can have ups and down but he will have full focus because this game is very important for us and I hope we will deliver,” the midfielder said.
Pellegrini’s job may come under threat if the title challenge fizzles out and the Champions League campaign ends at Camp Nou. Asked if he believed the players have some responsibility for Pellegrini’s predicament and that knocking out Barcelona may help secure his future, Touré said: “Football is like that. Last year being brilliant, everyone saying Manchester City [are a] top team in Europe – all of a sudden we have some problems and we’re the worst team in the world. We can deal with that.
“We all know what we have to do, the owners have spent a lot of money to make this one of the top clubs in Europe. We have had some difficulties but we are working hard. It’s not the first time we have been in this situation. We’ll try to do it for the fans and the club, and the people who continue to help us.”
Pep Guardiola is expected to be at Wednesday’s game, a first return to the club he coached to two Champions League triumphs before taking a year’s sabbatical. Now manager at Bayern Munich, the Spaniard is City’s first choice to replace Pellegrini should he be removed.
Pressed about speculation in the local media here regarding his job, Pellegrini said: “I don’t know what the Catalunya press says but I have one more year left and I’m confident I’m going to finish my contract, so I have no comment on that.”
While City trail Chelsea by six points in the Premier League and have played a game more, Barcelona lead La Liga by a point, having won their past six outings. Yet Pellegrini denied his players have less confidence in him than Barça do in their coach, Luis Enrique. “You don’t know the kind of confidence my players have in me,” he said. “You know what football is. You could have asked the question the other way round if we were talking two months ago. All teams go through different moments and we will try to do our best with dedication and hard work.”
Touré missed the first leg, completing a three-game suspension for being sent off in the home defeat by CSKA Moscow. Pellegrini said: “I always say that we can play without Yaya but if you ask me I prefer to have Yaya in my team. He’s a very important player for us. Tomorrow it is a big game and he is used to that.”
If Touré and his team-mates were watching to see if the pressure is affecting Pellegrini they will have been left in no doubt after this composed performance. The manager added: “First of all, I respect all opinions but I don’t think my seat is in danger but even if it was I wouldn’t do anything differently, I would do the same thing and focus and concentrate on the game.”
There was even an answer to Andrés Iniesta, who earlier in the day had urged Barça to make City suffer. Pellegrini listened to these comments and then said he was confident his players can do harm to Barça when it counts.
“We must try to do it, we are not going to play against an easy team but I’m sure that if the three ties we played before were 11 v 11 it could have been different,” he said, alluding to how Pablo Zabaleta, Martín Demichelis and Gaël Clichy were sent off in each of the three previous legs played between the sides in the last year.
If City can eliminate Barça before their own crowd it will go down as a defining victory of the Sheikh Mansour era and make Pellegrini’s own future with the club more secure.
