City fume at Premier League fixtures

Manuel Pellegrini has hit out at the Premier League for giving Manchester City one fewer recovery days than Real Madrid ahead of their Champions League semi-final return match.

City travel to the Spanish capital on Wednesday with their last-four encounter evenly poised at 0-0, but boss Pellegrini fears his side are being put at a disadvantage by having to play on Sunday at Southampton.

That is in contrast to Madrid, who will play against Real Sociedad in La Liga on Saturday.

City approached the Premier League to move their clash so Pellegrini’s players have the same preparation time as their Spanish rivals, but that request was rejected.

“I don’t understand why having so many games in this league with so much interest why we cannot play 24 hours earlier – at least the same as Real Madrid,” Pellegrini said.

“It’s not for me to say and there’s a lot of things like the rights of TV, so I don’t know.

“As a manager you always want to have all of the options. We’re representing England and the Premier League in the Champions League – at least you don’t want to give an advantage to the other team.”