Manuel Pellegrini: Manchester City manager forgets passport on his way to

The question then seemed to be how soon Manuel Pellegrini’s team might blow away all comers domestically, and if this was to be the year they finally became a true challenger in the Champions League. However, he would hope this is the only embarrassment he suffers.

The former Premier League champions will take on Borussia Monchengladbach in their Champions League group clash this evening. That defeat by Juve at the Etihad Stadium had greater repercussions than the loss of another three points.

But Mangala has missed City’s last three matches with a muscle problem, while Kompany has not played since suffering a calf injury in the Champions League against Juventus on September 15.

We defended very well and, at the same time, were always able to hurt them a bit going forward. “It is just different from the Premier League because we have less time to recover”.

“But to think from where we were a couple of weeks ago, how confident the team were and how well they played was a real compliment to the team”.

“It is not a final but it is a very important game“, Pellegrini said.

“Of course, Vincent is a very important player“, said the 62-year-old.

“It was not important – just I have two passports and I brought the wrong passport”, he explained to giggles. We won our last six games of last season without Vincent. The Argentine’s group?stage hat-trick against Bayern last season showcased his quality and cool precision in front of goal, but he is repeatedly shouldering the goalscoring burden on his own and City have faltered because Aguero’s fellow strikers have failed to deliver.

“We have a strong squad but it is not easy to sustain eleven injuries”, he said.

At least he has been able to see Kevin de Bruyne quell the doubts over the £55m fee charged by Wolfsburg.

There seemed no hint of what was to come when City broke quickly in the 25th minute following a Spurs corner with marauding Yaya Toure eventually releasing De Bruyne who slotted his shot past Hugo Lloris.

City are now third only on goal-difference after leaders Juventus enjoyed a 2-0 win at home to Sevilla on Wednesday as Manuel Pellegrini’s Citizens bounced back from their opening 2-1 defeat at home to the Italians.

“I don’t think so, we will see”, he added when asked about whether Kompany would be fit. “We have qualified for the last two knockout stages and lost to Barcelona, the best team in the world”.