We’re not under pressure for Dynamo Kiev tie: Manuel Pellegrini
No side is expected to talk about which title they prefer the most in public since it could lead more pressure over the players whenever they are playing in their aspiring title and this is something that happened with Manchester City who openly said to have more interested in winning Champions League than FA Cup and for that reason they as well played with rather a weak team against Chelsea recently and drew severe criticism. Now, when they are up against Dynamo Kyiv in the round-of-sixteen game, it is obvious everyone would have a watch over them and how they perform at NSC Olimpiyskiy, Kiev. Apparently City manager Pellegrini was not happy with organizers decision to play them on Sunday which would have given them less time to rest before next CL clash especially when they are already passing through several injuries. Anyways, sensing the vibes in the air Pellegrini refuses to have been under pressure after controversial Chelsea loss.
However, if we look at both the sides going to meet today, Dynamo Kiev is not having any chance over Manchester giant on paper, even then, after recent developments, City players would definitely be under pressure to deliver their best and prove they deliberately lost Stamford Bridge game last weekend. Talking about the game and if they are under any pressure, 62-year-old Chilean said, “I don’t think one game is linked with the other one. Unfortunately for us, we have to make a difficult decision against Chelsea but it was the only clear decision we had to make in this moment.
“If we had a completely fit squad, then a lot more experienced players could have played that game but that was not the case. We had just 13 players so I think that it is our intention to continue in all of the competitions. But we couldn’t do that, we had to take a chance but this is absolutely different.”
Adding about his players and their form and if it would be a problem in first leg game at NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, he furthered, “I think the problem is to try and play well tomorrow. We are not thinking about the future because we don’t know when players will return. The important thing for our players tomorrow is to have a good performance. We know it’s 180 minutes — it’s just the first leg — so we know it’s the performance.”