Monday, March 3, 2014

Manuel Pellegrini hopes Manchester City's Capital One Cup final victory over Sunderland can inspire his players to complete a historic domestic treble.
City won 3-1 at Wembley to give Pellegrini his first trophy in England.
They face Wigan in the FA Cup quarter-finals and are also in the thick of a battle for the Premier League title.
Manuel Pellegrini

City's cup-winning coach

  • A defender, Manuel Pellegrini spent his entire playing career at Universidad Chile, making more than 450 appearances
  • Retired in 1986 and took his first managerial role the following year at Palestino
  • Has taken charge of 10 teams in total including Villarreal (2004-09), Real Madrid (2009-10) and Malaga
  • Won league titles in Ecuador and Argentina and the Intertoto Cup with Villarreal in 2004
"To win the first trophy is important for us all. For the players, for me and for the staff," said Pellegrini, who replaced Roberto Manciniin the summer.
"We are the only club with the chance to try to win all the competitions. We are going to try although we know it is not easy."
City face Wigan in a repeat of last season's FA Cup final, which the Latics won 1-0, in the quarter-finals of this year's competition at Etihad Stadium next Sunday.
They are fourth in the Premier League and six points behind leaders Chelsea, but have two games in hand on Jose Mourinho's team plus Liverpool and Arsenal in second and third respectively.
No club has ever won all three domestic trophies in one season, and Pellegrini thinks winning the Capital One Cup will give his side "a lot of confidence".
They could yet win a quadruple, but mustoverturn a two-goal deficit in their Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona at the Nou Camp.
Pellegrini said: "When you have the chance to win a trophy and you don't, you may not go out with your mind the same way.
"We have Wigan first. We have respect for them - remember what happened in the FA Cup final - but we are going to try and do it."
The Chilean said he tried to keep his players calm after Fabio Borini gave Sunderland a deserved half-time lead, and was rewarded as goals from Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas gave City the win.
"I told them they had 45 minutes to change the score," said Pellegrini. "Maybe what happened in the FA Cup final was in their minds in the first half but the most important thing was to calm the players."

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