Manchester City not fretting over expected return of Cristiano Ronaldo, insists Manuel Pellegrini as he plots pathway to Champions League final
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini insists he is not having sleepless nights over the expected return of two-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo as his side bid to reach the Champions League final by toppling Real Madrid.
Former Manchester United attacker Ronaldo, who has scored 47 goals – 16 in the Champions League – this term, has missed Real’s previous three matches, including last week’s first-leg goalless draw, with a thigh injury.
The lethal forward returned to training on Sunday and is set to present a significant hurdle to City setting up a showdown with Atletico Madrid, who overcame Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich, in the final in Milan on 28 May.
But Pellegrini, who was sacked as Real boss in 2010 despite overseeing a record-breaking season which saw the Merengues chalk up 96 La Liga points, believes it would be foolish to focus their attentions solely on the 31-year-old Portuguese.
“Cristiano will always be a different player, he scores a lot of goals and has throughout his six years here,” said Pellegrini.
“However, I don’t think Real are just Cristiano Ronaldo. We must work as a team, defending and attacking. Not just against Ronaldo but against Real Madrid.
“Our motivation must be to reach a final which we’ve never done before against a great team in a beautiful stadium. It’s important because it’s high pressure but we have the personality and the football to beat them.
“Everyone must trust in their team. We trust in ours and I hope we can demonstrate it in the 90 minutes. We are sure we will need to make a very good performance to reach the final.”
Pellegrini confirmed that midfielder Yaya Toure is available despite the club initially tweeting that the Ivorian, along with the injured David Silva, had not travelled to the Spanish capital after failing to recover from a thigh problem.
“He [Toure] has a lot of experience and quality. He won a Champions League for Barcelona here in Spain, so he will be important,” added Pellegrini.
Despite 10-time European conquerers Real’s continental pedigree dwarfing that of City’s, who have never before reached the Champions League last four, Pellegrini is adamant they have shown enough quality in recent years to hint at progression.
“Not just this season, but the three seasons in the Champions League, this team did very well away, especially beating Roma away last season,” said Pellegrini, whose side prior to this season had not made it further than the last 16.
“This season in the quarter-finals we had a very good draw against Paris Saint-Germain, we beat Dynamo Kiev, Borussia Monchengladbach and Sevilla away, so we’ll try and do exactly the same.”