Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini says his side does not fear anybody in the Champions League and was happy to see Barcelona eliminated.
The Citizens come up against Real in the last four with the other semi final taking place between Bayern Munich and Atletico de Madrid – who knocked out last year’s winners.
Barcelona had eliminated City in the past two seasons but with them now no longer a factor, Pellegrini says his players fear no one.
“I did not celebrate when Barca were eliminated. But if you ask me do I not prefer to play against them? I prefer not to play against them. When the same team beats you twice it can be a mental barrier,” he said, reacting to the draw.
He went on to add that his team must be at their best to beat Real, who the faced in the group stages in 2012-13 and took just a single point from the two games.
“We improved a lot in Europe because you must remember that the season before I came this club was eliminated at the group stage. They didn’t win one game with a lot of the same players as who are playing now – Yaya, David Silva, Kun Agüero, Joe Hart, Clichy, Zabaleta, Kolarov. They didn’t win a game,” he commented.
And he added: “We’ve improved but if we want to go further we must try to improve our performance without mistakes.”
