Not ‘Barcelona again’ is Manchester City’s priority as Pellegrini plans for Juventus

Coach says, "We were very unlucky in the draw against Barcelona both seasons, but we are showing now that we have qualified two games before we finished the group stage."

Manuel Pellegrini watches his players during training on the eve of the game against Juventus. Ed Sykes / Reuters

MANCHESTER // With his Manchester City side already qualified for the knockout stages of the Uefa Champions League, there is one team manager Manuel Pellegrini wants to avoid in the last 16 draw.

"I hope that we are not going to get Barcelona again," said the Chilean, "because last season and the first season they had [Lionel] Messi and Neymar, and now with [Luis] Suarez they are a very difficult team to beat, but at some moment we are going to be at the same level."

City reached the last 16 for the first time last season but were beaten 3-1 on aggregate by the Catalan club. In 2013/14, they were eliminated by the same opponent 4-1 on aggregate.

They can avoid the Spanish giants, at least for one round, by finishing top of their group and can take a big step towards that goal by taking at least a point from their visit to Turin to face Juventus tonight.

City are a point ahead of the Italian side in Group D with two games to play. Juventus beat City 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in September.

“This year we must improve at least one stage more,” Pellegrini said. “It’s not our target – our target is to try and win the final – but we must go step by step because we also have domestic competition.

“It’s important to be a consistent team that can demonstrate, especially in Europe, that we are improving.

“We were very unlucky in the draw against Barcelona both seasons, but we are showing now that we have qualified two games before we finished the group stage.

“We hope that are going to have a little bit more luck in the draw, especially if we finish at the top of the group.”

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City’s Premier League season began in style as they won the first five games, scoring 11 times without conceding. Since then they have stuttered and a 4-1 home defeat by Liverpool on Saturday saw them drop from top to third in the table.

“This season we have had a lot of injuries,” Pellegrini said. “That’s why it is important for this squad to demonstrate that we are not just one or two players.”

City have been without Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Pablo Zabaleta and Vincent Kompany for varying periods this season, but summer signing Kevin de Bruyne has stepped up in their absence.

The Belgian winger has scored six times and made six assists in 14 games for City, including a last-minute winner against Sevilla in the team’s last Champions League game, which put them top of the group.

“Kevin is a player that fortunately for us played one year here,” Pellegrini said, referring to the Belgian’s previous spell at Chelsea.

“He knew about the Premier League so he’s settled immediately into this kind of league, into this kind of football.

“It was important for him to adapt to our team because we try always to play attractive football, offensive football.

“I left him on the bench for the first game but an injury obligated him to play immediately and from that day he’s been doing very well.”

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