I will know Madrid´s plans – Pellegrini

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has warned Real Madrid he has “many friends” watching them ahead of their Champions League clash.

The Premier League outfit head to the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday for the return leg of their semi-final, having drawn 0-0 at home.

Pellegrini said he knew the injured Cristiano Ronaldo would miss the first leg at the Etihad Stadium and warned Madrid he was well-informed about his former club.

“I have many friends in Spain,” the Chilean said, via The Mirror.

“I always try to have as much as information about the opposition before every game. And when we had the team meeting on the morning of the Madrid game, I told the players that Ronaldo would not be playing.

“I understand what happens with Real Madrid and I know about Cristiano’s injury, and that maybe it is not a big injury.

“But it is difficult for them to take a risk because they don’t know if he will play for just five minutes and then they lose him for the rest of the season.

“What happens in the next four days will make them decide – and if Ronaldo has any chance of playing then they will take it. And I will know.”

Pellegrini expects a far more attacking performance from Zinedine Zidane’s men, who prepared for the clash with a 1-0 win at Real Sociedad in La Liga on Saturday.

But he said his team would also try and be on the front foot in search of an all-important away goal.

“It is a game of 180 minutes and they know they have to play the second leg. I’m sure we will see a different Real Madrid trying to be an offensive team,” Pellegrini said.

“We are not going there just to keep the draw. We are going to try to score from the beginning. The plan will be about defending and attacking and not just thinking about one player.”