HOW PELLEGRINI FINALLY CRACKED THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WITH MAN. CITY
Manuel Pellegrini was hired to help Manchester City crack Europe – now in his final months as the club’s manager, he’s finally delivered in the Champions League.
City are only three matches away from becoming the kings of Europe, after their 1-0 home win against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night secured a 3-2 aggregate victory in the quarter-finals of the continent’s premier competition.
The ambition of City’s billionaire Abu Dhabi owners to conquer world football is one of the reasons that Pep Guardiola will take over from Pellegrini this summer – but for the second time in a row the Catalan could find himself joining a club that’s just won the Champions League.
Pellegrini showed on Tuesday night why he’s likely to be a manager in demand at the end of the season. He’s finished first and second in his two full Premier League seasons so far, while even this term a poor league campaign has been tempered by winning the Capital One Cup and now reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League.
City and Pellegrini know the odds are against them, as they’re likely to be fourth favourites to win the competition. Real Madrid are also semi-finalists and will be joined by one of La Liga’s top two – Barcelona or Atletico Madrid – while Guardiola must be dreading the prospect of bringing his Bayern Munich side to the Etihad Stadium.
The Chilean made some brave decisions to get to the next stage, but he got his tactics perfect as City beat a woefully disappointing PSG side in Manchester.
When Pellegrini decided not to risk Vincent Kompany after a calf injury and Yaya Toure started on the bench, the 50,000 City supporters arriving at the Etihad must have feared the worst. After all, City have struggled at home this season against the better sides domestically, having lost to Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, West Ham United and Liverpool.
Yet they looked rock solid against the French champions’ one-paced, predictable attack. The much-maligned central defensive pairing of Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi shackled Zlatan Ibrahimovic superbly, with excellent protection in front of them from Fernando (five tackles, three clearances) and Fernandinho (four interceptions).
On the occasions that PSG did break through the City defence over the two legs, Joe Hart rose to the task and showed why he’s England’s No.1. After his penalty save in Paris to deny Ibrahimovic, he again denied the Swede with two saves from vicious free-kicks, before smothering an Edison Cavani shot when the Uruguayan was one-on-one.
It provided the platform for City’s attacking quality to tell. The hosts should’ve taken a first half lead, but Sergio Aguero badly missed the target with his placed penalty after the Argentine himself had been brought down in the box by PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.
In a game short of quality, the winning goal was incongruous, but the source will have been no surprise to City supporters. 14 minutes from time Kevin De Bruyne collected the ball from Fernando, worked himself some space with his first touch and then whipped his finish into the bottom corner from 20 yards with his second.
De Bruyne had also smashed in City’s opening goal in the first leg, and has hit the ground running since his return earlier in April from a knee injury that had ruled him out for two months.
City won just seven points from as many Premier League matches during the Belgian’s absence, and would surely be much closer to leaders Leicester had he remained fully fit during that period.
Pellegrini will again look to De Bruyne to inspire his side with his quality in the final third in the semi-final, the second time he’s led a team into the final four of the competition in his career.
It’s been a difficult time for Pellegrini, especially with the spectre of Guardiola lurking over him over the last few months, but he’s maintained his dignity throughout – and now he’s delivered beyond expectations on Europe’s biggest stage.
courtesysquakwa
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