Manuel Pellegrini: 'We will pick the right team for Juventus'

Manchester City understands the importance of topping one's group in the Champions League.

As a consequence of finishing second in their group in the past two editions of the tournament, the Citizens were drawn against Barcelona in the round of 16 and subsequently eliminated. However, the club looks set to top Group D in the ongoing competition, sitting first through four matchdays with nine points.

"To be in our present situation must be some sort of miracle," Pellegrini said, according to Paul Wilson of the Guardian. "Because when we lost our first game all the papers said we were out of Europe."

The first game Pellegrini spoke of was City's 2-1 defeat to Juventus at the Etihad Stadium in mid-September, and the reverse fixture goes Wednesday in Turin, Italy.

"It is important not to relax now because we would still like to finish top of the group. That is not the most important thing. We have done the most important thing by qualifying for the third year in a row but now we must try to win the group. The big teams must respect all the competitions they are involved in, it would be a mistake for us to take it easy in Europe now in order to concentrate on the Premier League.

"If we win in Italy then maybe we can take the game against (Borussia) Monchengladbach a little bit easier but it is best not to look that far ahead. We will pick the right team for Juventus, a team to try and get a result. We have a though game against Southampton the following Saturday and the recovery period will not be ideal, but when we go to Juventus we will be thinking only about making progress in Europe and not about the Premier League."

A win at Juventus will guarantee City tops its group.