Champions League: Manchester City manager Pellegrini back to mastermind City win over AS Roma

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini will be back in the dugout after returning from suspension when City attempt to kick-start their Champions League campaign against a rampant, in-form AS Roma at the Etihad on Tuesday.

The 61-year-old Chilean had to watch from the stands as City opened their Group E campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Bayern Munich two weeks ago and will be hoping that City can win their opening home match for the first time after failing to do so in their three previous campaigns.

If they were to draw or lose on Tuesday and Bayern won at CSKA Moscow -- beaten 5-1 by Roma in their opener -- City would already be facing a battle to reach the last 16.

Pellegrini is in no doubt how tough this group is as he told the latest edition of Champions magazine.

"We have a very difficult group. We know CSKA and Bayern from last season and Roma are a very strong team who finished as runners-up in the Italian league.

"So we have the English champions playing the German champions and the Italian runners-up. All the matches, even against the same opponents we faced last season will be difficult."

 

CHELSEA REUNION?

City will be without injured playmaker Samir Nasri, defender Matija Nastasic and midfielders Stefan Jovetic and Fernando for the game which could see Frank Lampard return to the competition after so many campaigns with Chelsea.

Lampard, 36, who is on loan from his parent club New York City after being released by Chelsea last season, has scored four times for City in the last week including the final goal in their 4-2 win at Hull City on Saturday, and could even face his old Chelsea team mate Ashley Cole.

The two spent eight years together at Stamford Bridge and played alongside each other when Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012.

Cole, who was also released by Chelsea at the end of last season, played in Roma's 2-0 over Verona on Saturday, their fifth successive Serie A win from the start of the season. It keeps them level on points with champions Juventus but second in the table a slightly inferior goal difference.

Mattia Destro scored a remarkable goal from near the halfway line to complete the victory and upstage talismanic team mate Francesco Totti, who was celebrating his 38th birthday on the day.

Totti, like Lampard, 36, and Cole, 33, may not have the stamina they had a decade ago, but Totti, in his 23rd season at his only professional club, twice came close to scoring on Saturday and could be a threat if he plays.

If he doesn't, Gervinho, who knows City from his Arsenal days, will be looking to add to his tally after scoring twice in the 5-1 win over CSKA.

Roma, though, will be without injured senior midfielders Daniele De Rossi and Kevin Strootman.

They also have concerns over defender Davide Astori (knee) and forward Juan Iturbe (thigh) while centre-back Leandro Castan is sidelined with a neck problem.

Roma have only won once in England on 14 previous visits -- a 1-0 victory at Liverpool in the UEFA Cup 13 years ago -- and suffered a huge defeat in Manchester when United beat them 7-1 in the Champions League in 2006-07.

Totti played in that match but head coach Rudi Garcia was keeping his cards close to his chest when he was asked if Totti would get the chance to ease that memory on this week's visit to northern England.

"Will Totti start against both Manchester City and Juventus next week? I will leave the media to speculate on that..." he teased.