Manchester City vs Sevilla: Manuel Pellegrini grappling again with how to lead City in Europe

Pellegrini has just three wins in nine at the Etihad in the Champions League

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Copies of the China Daily were laid out among the British newspapers at Manchester City’s Football Academy campus on Tuesday – testament to the fact that the third most powerful man on the planet will be in attendance here before the week is out. Xi Jinping’s City visit features in the propagandist title, amid such headlines as “Chinese investment in British industry producing dividends,” which the people of Scunthorpe and Lanarkshire may have a different take on.

But the significance of the visit, and all that it says about how City’s name and way of doing things have crossed continents, belies the struggle to make much headway on the one they occupy. Manuel Pellegrini, the manager, was prickly and evasive when his very poor Champions League home record was put to him – three wins in nine – and he looked like a man for whom pressure feels very uncomfortable. He was unwilling even to admit ahead of tonight’s deeply significant encounter with Sevilla that there is room for improvement.

City’s owners and board realise that Champions League triumph does not come overnight. They will pragmatically tell you that the random nature of knockout competitions means that a side might need to be around the quarter and semi-finals four or five times before a breakthrough year. But the home defeat to Juventus and squeaky win at Borussia Mönchengladbach so far in Group D create a sense that pitching a flag near the final is far off.

“I just answered [that] question,” Pellegrini said when the home record resurfaced. “I don’t know what is home records. All the other things is statistics or history that will not help us to win or lose.” What was different about this season’s players and strategy that suggested this campaign would be better, he was asked. “I don’t know against which seasons [you compare],” he replied.

There is no rationale for the struggles which have persisted for a side of such fine individual talents. The Ballon d’Or shortlist yesterday contained three players from City – the only club holding a candle to Real Madrid, Bayern Munich (with five apiece) and Barcelona (six). Perhaps one big and significant win could help turn the tide and imbue the Etihad Stadium with a sense of anticipation.

The supporters’ antipathy towards Uefa is understandable, given the disgraceful way CSKA Moscow fans were allowed to escape a ban for racist conduct last season. But the boos which accompany the Uefa anthem and apparatus do not help the occasion. Pellegrini, of course, was unwilling to discuss this, either. “I think we always have in the Etihad the atmosphere we need.” But did booing lower the tone? “I don’t think the atmosphere is not what we need,” he said, dousing the answer in negatives to wash it away.

Pellegrini said he was not worried that Yaya Touré told the French paper L’Equipe this week that he is “sickened” by British journalists. “I don’t think I have to answer how happy is Yaya. The answer is his performances in the last four years he plays.” The decision of Raheem Sterling’s agent, Aidy Ward, to attack his client’s previous manager Brendan Rodgers – claiming the player might not have joined City had the Northern Irishman been a better manager – raises the question of how bumpy things will get if one of life’s setbacks occurs for Sterling at his new club.

Pellegrini is tonight without Sergio Aguero, a month away from recovery after a hamstring injury, and David Silva, as well as Gaël Clichy and Fabian Delph. Though Sevilla have defied the laws of economics with their domestic and European success, which included an emphatic win over Mönchengladbach, they have been struggling at home: 13th in La Liga after eight games.

A French journalist put it to Pellegrini that Paris Saint-Germain had declared their aim is to win this competition and asked if City shared their outlook. It was a sign of the general uncertainty in Europe that Pellegrini did not state, quite simply: “Yes, of course we want to win this cup.” “I think… aaahh… I’m not sure,” he said, trying to construct an answer. “I am sure every team wants to win the Champions League. But it is not easy.”