MX23RW : Wednesday, November 27 04:59:02| >> :120:4158:4158:

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
1Liverpool1210112481631
2Manchester CityMan City127232217523
3Chelsea126422314922
4Arsenal126422112922
5Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton126422116522
6Tottenham HotspurSpurs1261527131419
7Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest125431513219
8Aston Villa125431919019
9Fulham125341717018
10Newcastle UnitedNewcastle125341313018
11Brentford125252222017
12Manchester UnitedMan Utd124441313016
13Bournemouth124351617-115
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham124351519-415
15Everton122551017-711
16Leicester CityLeicester122461523-810
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves122372028-89
18Ipswich TownIpswich121651323-109
19Crystal Palace121561017-78
20Southampton121110924-154


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!