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Pellegrini: ‘Special’ game for Raheem Sterling
Posted On Nov 27 2015
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He became public enemy No. 1 on Merseyside after turning his back on Anfield to join Manchester City in a £49m deal, claiming Liverpool couldn’t match his ambition.
Klopp’s own personal record against City is much better, with a win and a draw – attained by a Mario Balotelli last-minute penalty at the Etihad – in two Champions League encounters as Borussia Dortmund manager.
Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling will be one of several players facing a former club when Liverpool visit on Saturday, but visiting manager Jurgen Klopp has played down the significance of the reunion.
Firmino enjoyed his best performance in a red shirt since joining the club from German side Hoffenheim for a reported fee of 29 million pounds ($45.8 million).
“It was very satisfying”.
The Reds continued to look threatening but City’s defence managed to hold out for the remainder of the game, the final score being 4-1. “We are prepared to play against them with all these players or without these players”.
Pellegrini said: “We did all we could to convince him to stay. If you have quality, and we have quality, then you have to believe you can do it better”.
“He was with us at Melwood, the same as Phil Coutinho, and that was the reason we played like this in a formation like this”.
The match between Manchester City and Liverpool will take place today, November 21, at 12:30 p.m. ET. We tried to close the spaces where they want to play and we pressed high.
Neither Firmino nor Coutinho were selected for Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers last week and have been training at Liverpool’s Melwood training base during the global break. It (his performance) was not bad, of course! It was a little bit of cramp. “He felt something, hopefully that is all because we saw again what a big player he is”.
In midfield, the absence of Fernandinho, who started the game on the bench, also proved a mistake with Yaya Toure performing badly before being replaced at half-time, but Pellegrini refused to accept the defeat was down to his selection.
