Manuel Pellegrini claimed last night (Friday) that Real Madrid did not hold the same fear as Barcelona as he -expressed relief that the biggest "barrier" to winning the Champions League had been removed.
The Manchester City manager said he did not celebrate Barcelona's quarter-final exit to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday but was adamant that playing Real in the semi-finals was preferable to facing the team who knocked his side out of the competition at the round-of-16 stage in the past two seasons.
City's pairing with Real will mean Pellegrini renews acquaintances with the club who sacked him after one season, despite a record-breaking campaign, and the Chilean -believes most of the pressure will be on the Spanish giants.
"I did not celebrate [Barcelona going out], no, but if you ask me do I not prefer to play against them? I prefer not to play against them," said Pellegrini, whose team defeated Paris St-Germain in the quarter-finals.
"It wasn't a mental barrier. It was a Barcelona barrier. With the players they had at that moment they were a better team than our team. [Barcelona and Real] are two different teams. The Champions League is always important but at Real Madrid you must win a title. There are no favourites, it's exactly the same, both teams have the same options.
"Maybe another way of thinking is it's easier to say, 'No, they [Real] have all the pressure because they are a big team and we are invited only to the semi-final', but I don't think that is the way.
"We have the same options [chance] as Real Madrid. We are -going to play against them like we always do, thinking as a big team and we are going to try and score here the most amount of goals we can so I hope this team can reach the final this year."
Txiki Begiristain, City's director of football, did sound a note of -caution by suggesting Real's -impressive showing against Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals proved they can be "unstoppable" in attack, but the club seem relieved to have avoided a meeting with Bayern and Guardiola, their incoming manager. "Pep will just have to concentrate on Bayern for now," Begiristain said.
City will play the first leg at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday week before travelling to Madrid for the return game at the Bernabeu eight days later.
If Pellegrini was pleased with the draw, though, so too was Zinedine Zidane, the Real coach, who saw his side overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit against Wolfsburg to progress 3-2 on aggregate courtesy of a hat-trick by former Manchester United -forward Cristiano Ronaldo at the Bernabeu.
The alternative for Real would have been a meeting with Atletico, their cross-city rivals who they beat to win the European Cup two -seasons ago, or Bayern Munich.
"I don't agree that Madrid always get the easy draws," Zidane said. "We have seen that in a so-called easy game [against Wolfsburg] we lost 2-0. It was a difficult game. I don't want to listen to that [suggestions City will be easy]. Roma, Wolfsburg and now City are very good teams.
"Real Madrid are always the -favourites - it's always been that way and always will be will - but it doesn't bother us. We know how difficult it is to play a quarter-final and we know it's even harder to play a semi-final. It's going to be a very difficult tie, a brutal tie. The only thing that's positive is that we are playing the second leg at home."
Pellegrini spent the 2009/10 season at Real before being dismissed after they missed out on the title by three points to Barcelona, even though he amassed a then club record 96 points and saw his team score 102 goals. But while the -Chilean - who was replaced by Jose Mourinho - insists he nurses no -bitterness over his exit, he is -adamant that the majority of Real supporters wanted him to stay.
"It was very unlucky to lose that league with 96 points and 102 goals but the most important thing was that we didn't win a title, which in Real Madrid is very difficult [to stomach]," Pellegrini said. "But 75 per cent of supporters wanted me to stay."
Ronaldo, who is likely to receive a hostile reception from City fans when he visits the Etihad owing to his past United allegiance, signed for Real for a then world-record pounds 80?million fee from Old Trafford in Pellegrini's season in charge.
Pellegrini rates Ronaldo as the best player he has ever managed and believes City must be flawless to overcome Real. City lost 3-2 to Real in Spain in their second season in the Champions League under Roberto Mancini, Pellegrini's predecessor, with Ronaldo scoring the winner, and drew 1-1 at home.
"You need to play your best performances if you want to play at this stage of the Champions League," he said. "To eliminate PSG gives you trust that you can play at a better level. We've improved but if we want to go further we must try to improve our performance without mistakes."
Gael Clichy has warned his City team-mates that they have achieved nothing yet. "I don't want to pretend that it's nothing because you don't get to the semi-finals of the Champions League every year but the truth is we have done nothing," the defender said. "Now if we go on to the final that will be something special and if we win the cup in -Milan that will be phenomenal."
City face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this evening, when Kevin De Bruyne returns to the club who sold him to Wolfsburg before his pounds 55?million move to Manchester, and then travel to Newcastle United three days later as they attempt to consolidate their place in the top four. Vincent Kompany has been ruled out of the Chelsea match but Pellegrini is hopeful his captain will be fit to start at St James' Park as the defender prepares to return from his fourth calf injury of the season.