Sergio Aguero claims Manchester City are looking to give boss Manuel Pellegrini the perfect send-off by lifting the Champions League trophy.
The Etihad outfit claimed a historic first appearance in the semi-finals of the competition with a 3-2 aggregate win over Paris Saint-Germain, sealed by Kevin De Bruyne’s strike in Tuesday’s second leg.
For City, it was a much-needed boost following a season where they have faltered badly in the Premier League and doubts raised about their quality and desire to win more trophies.
Pellegrini will be replaced in the summer by Pep Guardiola and Aguero admits there would be no better way to bow out than by leading City to European glory.
Aguero said: “It is important for (Pellegrini) and for all of us. Obviously it is important for him because he knows he won’t be here for next season so I imagine he must be very happy, very pleased. I hope we can go even further.
“The confidence is there, we are in semis and anything can happen. We will be at our maximum, depending on who we play against, but we will be going all out to win it. This was our goal, to be among the four best teams in the Champions League and now we want to keep growing.”
For full-back Bacary Sagna, Tuesday night was an affirmation of City’s development under Pellegrini, the Chilean having brought him to the club in 2014 on a free transfer for Arsenal. Sagna was delighted City were able to answer their many detractors in the best-possible fashion, albeit against a dramatically below-par PSG.
“We gave the best answer to anyone who doubts us by qualifying for the semi-final. As a team we’ve shown we deserve to be one of the best in Europe.
“We had to step up. We could have done better in the Premier League and we still have to look forward to it – we still have to qualify for the Champions League next season.
“But we are still here even though we’ve had some setbacks in the league. We want to fight.
“We were up against a good team, PSG, in a different competition and we had to play well. But it was a good response. We can be glad now because we deserved to go through.
“If anyone wondered which is the best between Ligue 1 and the Premier League they will have seen the Premier League is the best.”
City will find out on Friday who they face in the last four, but Sagna added: “No matter who you are going to face it is going to be hard and we’ll have to show great character. And we’ll have to pull out another great performance.”
Match-winner De Bruyne won’t be satisfied with just a final spot either as he added: “This was one of my bigger nights. It’s up there with other great moments, but what does a semi-final mean? If you lose the final, you can say you’ve been in a final. That’s beautiful of course, but I want to advance.
“It’s all about the titles and the trophies, I want to win those. They give you the best feeling. We’ll do everything to go through. I joined this club to win trophies. It’s has been a season with ups-and-downs, but in the Champions League we’ve been doing well.”
Meanwhile, City have been charged by UEFA after fireworks were set off during Tuesday night’s match.
In November, City avoided disciplinary action for their fans booing the Champions League anthem.
