Seeing Barca exit was my prayer point - Manuel Pellegrini

If Pellegrini was so happy to see Barca exit the Champions League in the quarter-finals, it's mean the Manchester City manager prayer was answered which leaves his lucky team in the position not to fear.

Manchester City Chief Manuel Pellegrini says there is nobody left for his side to fear in the Champions League now that Barcelona has been wiped out.

City moved past Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals and have been drawn against Real Madrid in the last four of the opposition, however, Pellegrini said the trophy is ready and waiting with Barcelona good and gone affability of Atletico Madrid.

The Chilean let it out will have been difficult to confront Barca, who wiped out City from the round of 16 in the last two releases of the competition.

I did not celebrate [when Barca was eliminated]. But if you ask me do I not prefer to play against them? I prefer not to play against them, - he said.

When the same team beats you twice it can be a mental barrier.

I was not happy [two years ago] because it was not the best Barcelona, but we were very unlucky with that penalty of [Martín] Demichelis we gave away in the first game [losing 2-1].

It was a very close game, which decided to qualify that year.

The second year we played a very strong Barcelona, better than our team with Neymar, Messi, and Suarez in their best moments. That's why they won the title.

Been that as it happened with Barcelona now off the beaten path, Pellegrini said his side's change in Europe this season - the first run through the club have passed the round of 16 - implies they are deserving of a spot in the last on the off chance that they can discover a route past Real Madrid in the semis.

We improved a lot in Europe because you must remember that the season before [I came] this club was eliminated at the group stage, - he said.

They didn't win one game with a lot of the same players as who are playing now – Yaya [Toure], David [Silva], Kun [Agüero], Joe Hart, [Gael] Clichy, [Pablo] Zabaleta, [Aleksandar] Kolarov. They didn't win a game.

We've improved but if we want to go further we must try to improve our performance without mistakes.

You need to play your best performances if you want to play at that stage of the Champions League. It's so important to eliminate the good team, like PSG, and that gives you trust that you can play at a better level.