The Chilean was speaking after watching his side eventually get past Newcastle with a 2-0 victory after extra-time.
City were drawn away at Championship high flyers Leicester City after Nigel Pearson’s men upset Fulham with a thrilling 4-3 win on Tuesday night.
Pellegrini made ten changes to his line-up for the game at St James’ Park and he revealed that he was pleased with the result and the performance of his team.
“I’m not thinking it’s an easy tie,” Pellegrini said.
“Leicester continue in this cup because they beat Fulham and that is not an easy team so we suppose we will have a very difficult match and if we want to win we will have to play very well.”
It’s important for my squad to have minutes to play, especially those who are not playing in the Premier League and Champions League.
...Manuel Pellegrini...
“We played a very good game and deserved to win.”
Meanwhile, Edin Dzeko has praised his teammates for making the most of their chance to shine, in Wednesday night’s Capital One Cup victory over Newcastle.
Dzeko played the full 90 minutes for the Sky Blues, making one assist before netting the second goal, and the Bosnian expressed his delight that he – and several other players – were able to showcase their talents, having failed to nail down a place in Manuel Pellegrini’s side in previous games.
“Against Newcastle, we got the chance to show what we can do,” he said. “Some of us hadn’t played in the last few games but we proved in that game that we deserve to play.
“We all worked very hard in pre-season and I think we deserved to win tonight. We want to get to the final in this competition – that’s definitely our target.”
...Edin Dzeko...
Dzeko heaped praise on several of his teammates – particularly Costel Pantilimon. In the midst of the controversy surrounding City’s goalkeeping situation, Dzeko had a special mention for the Romanian, who kept a clean sheet and made some key saves in the game.
“Pantilimon was great,” said Dzeko. “He’s working hard in training and this is the second game in the Capital One Cup that we haven’t conceded in. He’s definitely improving.”
“Negredo is a great player too and I think we work well together. The same can be said for Aguero and Jovetic. There are four strikers and any of us can play.”
