Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 8y

Manuel Pellegrini: Man City preparing for more than just Cristiano Ronaldo

MADRID -- Cristiano Ronaldo is not the only threat to Manchester City's hopes of reaching their first Champions League final, according to manager Manuel Pellegrini.

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane confirmed that the three-time Ballon d'Or winner was "100 percent fit" for Wednesday's semifinal second leg at the Bernabeu.

Ronaldo missed the goalless draw in the first leg with a thigh strain and while Pellegrini admitted that the Portuguese forward can make a big difference on his return to the side, he insisted that he is not the only player that City have to worry about.

Pellegrini told a news conference: "Cristiano will always be a different player -- he scores a lot of goals and has throughout his six years here.

"However, I don't think Real are just Cristiano Ronaldo. We must work as a team defending and attacking. Not just against Ronaldo but against Real Madrid.

"Our motivation must be to reach a final which we've never done before against a great team in a beautiful stadium.

"It's important tomorrow because it's high pressure but we have the personality and the football to beat them.

"Everyone must trust in their team -- we trust in ours and I hope we can demonstrate it in the 90 minutes.

"We are sure we will need to make a very good performance to reach the final -- it would be the first time we've reached it."

Pellegrini was boosted by his own good injury news with Yaya Toure available after recovering from a thigh strain that has kept him out of City's last two games.

There had been some confusion over whether the Ivorian midfielder would be available. He trained with the first team in Manchester ahead of the club travelling to Spain but City's official Twitter account had initially claimed that Toure had been left out of the trip -- before confirming that he had travelled.

Pablo Zabaleta is missing, however, after picking up a muscle injury in Sunday's Premier League defeat to Southampton while David Silva is out with the hamstring injury he picked up in the first leg.

Pellegrini said: "I don't know the news that Toure wasn't travelling because he trained without problem the whole week. He has a lot of experience and quality. He won a Champions League for Barcelona here so he will be important.

"The only injury in the squad was David Silva, he cannot play, and Pablo Zabaleta, he has a muscle injury from the last game he played against Southampton. All of the rest of the players in the squad are fit."

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