MANCHESTER, (Reuters) – Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini’s ambition of leaving them as kings of Europe moved a step closer yesterday when his side reached the Champions League semi-finals for the first time after a tense 1-0 win over Paris St Germain.
City sealed a 3-2 aggregate victory with a superb curling shot from Kevin de Bruyne with 14 minutes remaining of the quarter-final, second-leg.
It was the Belgium international’s second goal of the tie after he netted City’s opener in the 2-2 first leg draw in Paris last week.
Pellegrini, who is leaving at the end of the season to make way for Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola, last reached the semi-finals 10 years ago with Villarreal and now hopes to go one better by lifting the European Cup in Milan on May 28.
“This is a great achievement for the club, we played as a big, mature team and we deserved it,” the 62-year-old Chilean told reporters.
“We were very unlucky to be drawn against Barcelona in the last 16 in the last two seasons, but now we have proved we deserve to be one of the best four teams in Europe.”
