Swansea 1 Manchester City 1: Kelechi Iheanacho all but secures Champions League berth
Manchester United will need to beat Bournemouth by at least 19 goals to leapfrog Manuel Pellegrini’s side
MANUEL PELLEGRINI left Manchester City feeling he could hold his head high.
He left the club in fourth place and so guaranteeing another season in the Champions League.
For the third year in a row since taking over at the club, he left City above rivals Manchester United.
And after securing the point needed to finish in the top four, Pellegrini left South Wales without his jacket.
After some persuasion from a shirtless Yaya Toure, Pellegrini handed over the item of clothing to a delighted fan who must today be deciding whether to put the item on eBay to pay for a few European trips next season.
Pellegrini remembered to take out his wallet first and it is a shame Toure did not show more persistence in City’s midfield in what has been a particularly strange season at the Etihad.
Pellegrini spoke of his pride, emotion and relief at finishing fourth.
But, ultimately, like many of their away games this season, Pellegrini’s team were pretty ordinary. And that is why he is being replaced by Pep Guardiola.
Despite Pellegrini’s comments, finishing 15 points behind champions Leicester is no achievement. He should actually be ashamed.
Pell said: “I felt emotional because it was a special day. It was not easy to finish here, a club where I worked for several years.
“It was a difficult day but also relief as it was important to finish in the Champions League place.
“It was a good season because we won the Capital One Cup and we reached the Champions League semi-finals for the first time.
“We qualified for the Champions League next season. We were the highest scoring team in the Premier League and we won most points against the big teams.”
As for his future, Pellegrini said: “I will start thinking about the future. I don’t want to decide in a week — I will see different options.”
Joe Hart gave a more realistic appraisal of City’s season.
The England keeper said: “It’s hard to be too positive after that but we got the job done if you class the job as finishing fourth.
“We know we’ve let ourselves down in the league this season. The beauty of football is we get another chance next year.”
City delivered a typically City performance. Decent in flashes, excellent in others. Although that was the first half.
Equally, there was an infuriating lack of urgency and you would not have thought that during a lethargic, unimpressive second half, a Champions League place was up for grabs.
courtesysun
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