But he manager believes the least his men should do is to qualify for the round of sixteen given the players he has at this disposal.
“We have a very good squad and the minimum we need to do is to qualify for the next round,” he declared.
“It is not very easy to talk about what might happen in the future, but tomorrow we will try to make that first step and after we will think about the rest.
“At the moment though, we just need to focus on tomorrow.”
After resting Joe Hart at the weekend for the emphatic 7-0 win over Norwich, the Chilean reasserted his position that the keeper needs a rest.
“I don’t know when Joe will come back to the team, it is very important for him to have a rest,” he said.
“He has played all the matches for the last two and a half years; we will see in the future what happens.”
Although the Sky Blues left Moscow with all three points in the reverse fixture, Pellegrini admits they are not expecting an easy game.
“CKSA has a lot of very good players and we played a very close game there is Russia and I think tomorrow will be the same,” he said.
The manager’s was a view echoed by full back Pablo Zabaleta: “We don’t expect an easy game because we know they have some very good individual players and they are very good on the counter attack,” he declared.
“We had a great win against Norwich at the weekend, but now it’s time to think of the Champions League where we have a great chance to win tomorrow. Hopefully we can have a good game and to try and get three points is very important to us.
“We haven’t had a great record in the Champions League, but I think we’ve been very focused to try to improve our performance in the competition.
“It takes time. We’ve won the FA Cup and the league and the Champions League is against some of the best teams in Europe, but I think we are ready to take a big step forward.
“Hopefully in the next few years, we can be one of the top teams in Europe.”
Tickets are still available for this vital fixture, priced from £33 for Adults and £17.50 for Under 16s.
Purchase online here, or call 0161 444 1894 option 1, option 1, option 2 (tickets purchased over the telephone are subject to a £2.50 booking fee per ticket), or visit the Ticket Office located on the first floor of the Etihad Stadium City Store. For more details please click here.
