Manuel Pellegrini plays down blunder at Beyern

MANUEL PELLEGRINI has refused to apologise for his Champions League blunder.

HAT-TRICK: City boss Manuel Pellegrini has a chat with Samir Nasri in training yesterday [PA]

Pellegrini was left red-faced in the wake of Manchester City’s famous win at Bayern Munich in midweek after failing to fully grasp the rules.
City caused a major upset by beating the European champions 3-2.

Just one more goal would have seen City top their group and avoid a potential last-16 clash with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
But Pellegrini was left embarrassed afterwards after admitting he did not know another goal would have given City top spot and possibly an easier tie in the next round.


He said: “It shouldn’t have happened, I agree with you. First of all I recognise absolutely my mistake, but I don’t have a guilty conscience about what we did, because we always tried to score the forth goal.

“We just couldn’t do it. But I remind you I changed David Silva around 70 minutes for Alvaro Negredo, not for Vincent Kompany, Dedryck Boyata.
“We continued with two strikers, trying to score.
“I knew we had to win by three goals – 3-0 or 4-1.

OFF SIDE: David Silva was switched for Alvaro Negredo [GETTY]

“First of all I recognise absolutely my mistake, but I don’t have a guilty conscience about what we did, because we always tried to score the forth goal.”

Manuel Pellegrini

“After, when they scored their second goal, I didn’t continue to think about us scoring four goals.
“That was because it’s not normal for teams to score four goals away to Bayern Munich.”

Pellegrini refused to reveal whether Joe Hart, who has not played in the Premier League for six games, would be recalled for today’s crunch clash with Arsenal.
Pellegrini was left red-faced in the wake of Manchester City’s famous win at Bayern Munich in midweek after failing to fully grasp the rules.

City caused a major upset by beating the European champions 3-2.
Just one more goal would have seen City top their group and avoid a potential last-16 clash with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
But Pellegrini was left embarrassed afterwards after admitting he did not know another goal would have given City top spot and possibly an easier tie in the next round.

He said: “It shouldn’t have happened, I agree with you. First of all I recognise absolutely my mistake, but I don’t have a guilty conscience about what we did, because we always tried to “We just couldn’t do it.

But I remind you I changed David Silva around 70 minutes for Alvaro Negredo, not for Vincent Kompany, Dedryck Boyata.
“We continued with two strikers, trying to score.

“I knew we had to win by three goals – 3-0 or 4-1.
“After, when they scored their second goal, I didn’t continue to think about us scoring four goals.
“That was because it’s not normal for teams to score four goals away to Bayern Munich.”
Pellegrini refused to reveal whether Joe Hart, who has not played in the Premier League for six games, would be recalled for today’s crunch clash with Arsenal.