MX23RW : Thursday, October 31 23:24:47| >> :60:168:168:

Man City's Manuel Pellegrini: 'Yaya Toure, James Milner weren't saying goodbye'

Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini insists that Yaya Toure and James Milner weren't saying "goodbye" to the fans when they were subbed during the final game of the season.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has insisted that he did not substitute Yaya Toure and James Milner to give the players the opportunity to say goodbye to the fans.

Toure is rumoured to be considering a summer departure from the Etihad Stadium, while Liverpool and Arsenal have been linked to Milner, who is out of contract in June.

Speculation over the players' futures intensified when Pellegrini took them off the pitch during the second half of City's final game of the Premier League season, which ended in a 2-0 win over Southampton.

"I think the only player who was saying goodbye was [Frank] Lampard," Pellegrini told reporters. "Yaya was returning in the last game after an injury of 15 days, he was very tired and couldn't finish the last game too. I didn't want to give him a muscle injury.

"Milner had a kick on his knee which is why he couldn't finish the game. We'll see, not only for those two, in the future who will stay here or not, but [to let them say goodbye] was not the reason why I changed them."

City finished second in the table, eight points behind champions Chelsea.

ID:224807: cacheID:224807:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:2368:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Manchester City's Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini watches the action during the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Manchester City at Upton Park in London on February 11, 2014
Read Next:
Pellegrini: 'Milner is undecided on future'
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City97202091123
2Liverpool97111751222
3Arsenal95311710718
4Aston Villa95311611518
5Chelsea95221911817
6Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton94411612416
7Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest9441117416
8Tottenham HotspurSpurs94141810813
9Brentford94141818013
10Fulham93331212012
11Bournemouth93331111012
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle9333910-112
13West Ham UnitedWest Ham93241316-311
14Manchester UnitedMan Utd9324811-311
15Leicester CityLeicester92341317-49
16Everton92341016-69
17Crystal Palace9135611-56
18Ipswich TownIpswich9045920-114
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves90271225-132
20Southampton9018619-131


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!