Peregrine:City mentally prepared than United

Having experienced witnessed pressure and passion of legendary rivalries involving Real Madrid and River Plate, fans of both Manchester City and United have let Manuel Peregrine know just how much Sunday’s Premier League meeting matters.

The Chilean is not fazed and confident his City side have a stronger mentality than the reigning champions, whose boss David Moyes will also be a Manchester derby debutant.

“Real Madrid-Barcelona is a very important derby and River-Boca Juniors also, but when you live in the city every day you feel how important always this derby is for the city of Manchester, for both sides,” said Pellegrini, who coached both Real and River Plate.

“The last week, all the people are talking about the derby, I know it is a very important derby and the most important match for this club. It is a match of six points. I know it is special, you feel it in the streets.

“A derby has a lot of different things but it is not the first important match we have played. I think the players have prepared every day to try to think as a big team and play as a big team.

“I don’t know what happened in the past, but I know that our mentality in the moment is very strong. So strong, but more strong than Manchester United.”

Pellegrini is tasked with bringing the title back to City and believes Moyes is under more “a lot of pressure”, having had to replace Sir Alex Ferguson and taking charge of a successful club like United.

“For me it is very important to win against Manchester United but the most important thing is to win the title so the concern is every week the same,” he added.

While Pellegrini admits Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie will pose a threat, he has his own strike weapon in Sergio Aguero.
“Sergio is very important, he is an incredible player, he makes a difference in every game he plays,” he added.

“He didn’t do a very good pre-season because he has a lot of problems, but now every game he is playing better.

“I am sure he will play a very good game on Sunday because Sergio always appears in important games.”