Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has blasted Real Madrid for being a “very political” club, who are run “by people who have no knowledge about football”.
Pellegrini had showed no bitterness about his season-long stint at Madrid in an interview before City’s goalless draw with Los Blancos in their Champions League semi-final first leg, but he changed tact when asked about them a second time.
“When one goes to Real Madrid, one must be able to accept that they’re not only a sports club. They’re very political,” he told El Mundo.
“One must also accept the extent to which people, who – for me – have no knowledge about football, interfere.
“If one is allowed to be undermined by people who have no knowledge [about football] and weakened by their criticism, which is prompted by political and personal interests, as well as sporting, then I don’t believe they’re prepared for the job.
“Never did I play someone to please anyone else or because of any criticism.
“[On his dismissal], I knew perfectly well that I’d be gone in August was because Florentino Perez told the Villarreal President [Fernando Roig] so, and he then told me.”
