Manuel Pellegrini praised Manchester City’s personality in forcing a draw at Paris Saint-Germain but warned defensive mistakes will have to be eradicated if they are to progress to the Champions League semi-finals.
City drew 2-2 at the Parc de Princes in their quarter-final first leg to take two away goals into next Tuesday’s match at the Etihad Stadium but their performance was bedevilled with defensive errors, as was PSG’s.
A mix-up involving Joe Hart and Fernando led to Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalising Kevin De Bruyne’s opener. Earlier, Hart’s decision to punch rather than catch allowed a cross that led to a penalty, though the goalkeeper saved Ibrahimovic’s spot-kick.
PSG took the lead through a Adrien Rabiot’s strike that Pellegrini said was offside – but it was cancelled out by Fernandinho’s finish. This time the mix-up was PSG’s, as Serge Aurier and Thiago Silva failed to clear.
Pellegrini said: “In the first half we make important mistakes that we cannot make if we want to continue in the Champions League. Unfortunately for us in the second half, the second goal of Paris Saint-Germain was absolutely offside. It was a mistake of the linesman. It’s not easy for a team to recover but this team has the personality and they believe in what we do. We always try to play attacking and try to score. That way we scored the second goal.”
He denied City have the edge in the tie. “No I don’t think we are favourites. Not before the game and not after this game. The same question was [on Tuesday] in the press conference and I say the same. Between big teams like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, you never have a favourite team. It continues open and I repeat we must play a very good game in Manchester if we want to continue.
“We must not talk about the semi-final. It’s very important now to play the second leg at home not thinking we already qualify. I repeat, they are a very good team with very good players, so after that, when we qualify, we can talk about the other things.”
Asked if Vincent Kompany might return from a knee injury for the second leg, Pellegrini said: “We’ll see him during the week and the way he improves. The last days, Vincent worked very well. Now we must test him with more intensity and it’s very difficult to answer now.”
Laurent Blanc conceded it was not a good result for PSG. “Let’s be honest there were a lot of technical mistakes. I don’t know if we were weak but in the buildup it allowed them to score goals that are really important,” the manager said. “This is our main regret. We could have been better and played better but in terms of the stats what went wrong was that we made mistakes we’re not used to doing. Manchester City were good in attack and are strong.
“I told the players I was satisfied we came back and equalised then scored a second goal to control the game but one technical mistake is hurting us a lot. We allowed them to come back.
“Zlatan was on a rollercoaster. He missed a penalty and right after that had a clear chance but didn’t score. We thought it might not have been his evening but he still helped us and opened the scoring. It’s not the first time we’ve conceded goals at home but we’ve shown we can also score away.
“Maybe we can play the same game as tonight but be more efficient and have a positive result. It will be complicated to progress.”
