Manuel Pellegrini backs Raheem Sterling to shine in Capital One Cup
Saturday 27 February 2016 02:50, UK
Manuel Pellegrini hopes Raheem Sterling can ignore the inevitable boos from Liverpool fans in Sunday's Capital One Cup final.
Sterling left Liverpool in a big-money move to the Etihad Stadium last summer, and the only match against his previous employers so far this season ended in a heavy 4-1 defeat at home to Jurgen Klopp's side.
City play Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday as well, but first up is the chance of a first trophy of the season at Wembley where Sterling is likely to be in the line-up despite not training on Friday.
Live Capital One Cup Final
And Pellegrini is backing Sterling to shine on the big stage, even though he is unlikely to get a friendly reception from Liverpool fans making the trip south.
"I think that for every player it's not comfortable to play against their old team, everyone has friends inside the club," the City boss said.
"But he's a professional player, he came here to win titles. He wants to win and I'm sure that he will have a very good performance.
"I don't think that he must prove [a point]. I hope that he will be focused just on having a good performance and not thinking about the boos that he may receive during the game or about what happened in the past. He's now a player of Manchester City.
"When we finish the season, if we win a couple of titles and Raheem has an important performance, it will be a good season for him.
"I don't think it's good to analyse his season in this moment. He has good things, bad things; he was a very important player the other day [against Dynamo Kiev].
"He is a very young player so he must improve every year. If you ask me if I am happy to bring him here this year - yes, for the moment I'm very happy. I think he will continue improving and giving a lot of things to our squad."
City appear set to go into the game with Willy Caballero in goal ahead of England No 1 Joe Hart, with Pellegrini expected to stick with his policy of using the club's second choice 'keeper in the competition.
Caballero is thankful to the Chilean for giving him the chance to impress in the cup, admitting victory at Wembley would be the biggest moment of his career.
"I have to accept whatever decision he makes, but I've played every game in this cup. I'm sure he'll make the correct decision," Caballero said.
"It is my desire to play in this final. I have been thinking about this game for a long time since we won against Everton [in the semi-final]. We've been training very hard for this game and I am ready for it.
Asked if it would be the highlight of his career, Caballero added: "Yes, for sure. I played in the semi-final and that was a great game. But it's a big team in front of us now and we are ready to do well."
