Speaking to the media, Manuel Pellegrini has explained why he cut Samir Nasri from Manchester City‘s Champions League squad in order to include Kelechi Iheanacho.
The Sky Blues have broken their glass ceiling in Europe’s premier club competition, reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
The Citizens are well placed to reach the final four, having drawn 2-2 at Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their quarter-finals. While a defensive error allowed PSG to take the lead with less than 20 minutes to play, Fernandinho struck late in order to hand City a second away goal and the initiative in the tie.
However, Nasri will be unable to feature in either the second leg of the quarter-final or any future City showings in this year’s competition, having been cut from Pellegrini’s squad at the halfway point of the competition.
While the Frenchman was eligible to feature during the group stage—and played for 83 minutes against Juventus in City’s 2-1 defeat—he was dropped for Iheanacho, who impressed during the first half of the campaign.
“I am happy for him because he worked very well in the last month, he returned maybe a little bit more early than the doctor expected,” Pellegrini began, as reported by the Manchester Evening News, when asked about Nasri’s return to fitness, “that’s why he is not in the Champions League list.
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“I changed him for Kelechi.”
The former Arsenal midfielder could feature on Saturday as they Citizens go head to head with West Bromwich Albion.