Manuel Pellegrini's future at Manchester City could rest on Barcelona result, says Jamie Carragher

Jamie Carragher believes Manuel Pellegrini's future at Manchester City could hinge on whether or not they beat Barcelona in the Champions League.

City saw their hopes of defending their Premier League title severely dented by a 1-0 defeat to Burnley on Saturday.

They are also up against it in Europe as they travel to Barcelona on Wednesday trailing 2-1 from the first leg of their last-16 clash.

And, speaking on Monday Night Football, Carragher said Pellegrini's position is definitely under threat.

"I think he's got a big problem in terms of his job," he said. "You've only got to look at the owners and how they dealt with Roberto Mancini, a man who won the league and the FA Cup.

"Pellegrini also won the league and a domestic cup in his first season. The exact same thing is happening. They’re drifting in that second season. I think he’s going to need a result like Laurent Blanc got.

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"I think Laurent Blanc saved his job at Paris St-Germain in that Chelsea game. I think he’s going to need something like that on Wednesday night in the Nou Camp to stay there. Who knows, he may still go after that."

City have lost three of their last four games in all competitions and are in danger of being overtaken in the league by Arsenal and Manchester United.

Carragher, though, has sympathy for the manager and says the squad should have been improved more.

"The reason I feel sorry for him is that his best players are still the players who won the league for Mancini in 2012," he said. "Eight of those players could still play against Barcelona. I feel sorry for him is that I don’t think he buys the players. The people above have mismanaged it.

"The position they’re in It looks like they need a rebuilding job. The people at the top - Txiki Beguiristain and Ferran Soriano - that's not good enough. That’s mismanagement.

"If you look at those names (that they’ve brought in since 2012), I don't think there's one player there who has improved the starting 11. Recruitment is the toughest job in football but they’ve had three goes at replacing Carlos Tevez, three goes at replacing Joleon Lescott and three goes at replacing their holding midfield player Gareth Barry and they’ve not got it right each time.

They’re drifting in his second season. I think he needs a result like Laurent Blanc got.

"We’re judging City the way we are because they’ve set the benchmark. We’re judging them as champions and when you’re champions you’re judged more harshly."

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said City simply cannot afford another poor performance against Barcelona.

"It's a massive game for them," he commented. "They’ve had the same situations again. They were beaten by Barcelona again, the same as they were against Bayern Munich. They’ve had the same experiences again and again.

"These players are responding to the title win the same as the last title win. They’ve got to put in a huge performance. The very least we’ve got to see on Wednesday is them sprinting around the pitch. If they walk on Wednesday they’ll get absolutely dissected."

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