City travel to Barcelona next week for Wednesday’s Champions League Round of 16 second leg, but the manager said that they would only beginning thinking about Europe after the final whistle on Sunday.
He revealed: “We are just thinking about the game against Wigan. We know it is a tough game, and it will not be an easy game. They are playing very well, and have won their last four games. When we finish the game on Sunday we will start thinking about Barcelona.
“I look to every competition with the same importance. On Sunday we have to play in the FA Cup, so we will think about the FA Cup.”
...Manuel Pellegrini...
When we finish that we will try to play a good match against Barcelona to have our revenge, and to try and continue in the Champions League.”
The Blues faced Wigan at the Etihad Stadium earlier on in the season in the Capital One Cup, but since then the Latics have made good progress under the stewardship of former Blue, Uwe Rosler.
The Chilean said: “We played against them earlier in the League Cup also, but I think it is a different team today and it is difficult.
“I know Rosler has an important link with this club but now he is the manager of Wigan and he will want to win.”
Pellegrini told the media ahead of the game there are no new injuries, with only Stevan Jovetic, Matija Nastasic and Richard Wright remaining on the sidelines, while Sergio Aguero continues to make good progress.
“There are no new problems, just Jovetic and Nastasic,” said the boss. “They both should be ready next week, and also Richard Wright – but he is almost ready.”
“It was very useful for Sergio to play the 55 minutes with his national team and he also played the same amount of minutes in the final, so every game he will improve.”
City were 2-0 down at halftime to Watford in an earlier round of the competition, and rallied in the second half thanks to an Aguero hattrick. However, Pellegrini was keen to emphasise that while lessons have been learnt, this is a different match and the Blues can expect a different challenge from Rosler’s men.
He argued: “It is sometimes not easy for us to play against different teams in the way we always want to do, but I think it is very important to try to play in the same way. I think the final of the Capital One Cup was one example of that. We were not at our best, we tried to play the way we always do but we were patient and scored three goals.”
“Watford was an important lesson in that moment but every game is different. We cannot expect the same problems because it is a different team, maybe we have other kinds of problems, but the most important thing for our team is to put in a good performance.”
After winning the Capital One Cup at Wembley, City are still alive in three more competitions at home and abroad, but Pellegrini reflected that while he enjoys pressure, it is only centred around the next game.
He stated: “It is very important for me to always work under pressure, but we are not thinking that we are going to win all the domestic titles or international titles, we are just trying to win every match.
It is very good for the squad at this stage of the season to have a chance to win all competitions, but it is not a target we are under pressure to achieve.
...Pellegrini...
“The only pressure we have is to win on Sunday.”
CITY v WIGAN: Tickets still remain for this weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final with Wigan Athletic – can the Blues return to Wembley by beating former City idol Uwe Rosler’s side and press on towards a third FA Cup final in four years? Don’t miss the chance to welcome back the 2014 League Cup winners and cheer on Manuel Pellegrini’s side in the battle between England’s two current domestic cup holders.
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