LONDON — Manchester City must put a potentially ruinous fortnight behind it as it seeks to reboot its faltering season with a big performance in its Champions League last-16, first leg trip to Dynamo Kiev Wednesday.
With its English Premier League title hopes badly dented by successive home losses to fellow contender Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur, City received heavy criticism for fielding a second-string team in Sunday's embarrassing FA Cup capitulation at Chelsea.
Suddenly, the lavishly-funded team which had been campaigning for a 'quadruple' of titles finds its season in danger of careering off the rails with manager Manuel Pellegrini brought to task by a former England great over his moans about the club's fixture congestion.
Alan Shearer, the Premier League's all-time leading scorer, criticized City's approach, telling the BBC he could not understand Pellegrini's decision to start six teenagers in the team which was thrashed 5-1 at Chelsea.
"Barcelona played Saturday and it faces Arsenal in the Champions League Tuesday. It's the same amount of time (between games) as City, but they didn't rest any players," Shearer said.
"I don't get the talk of resting players. City are — and want to be — a very big club on the global stage.
"They've got more resources than anyone. I never see Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo wanting to be left out."
Pellegrini responded to the criticism by saying he should not have to defend his selection. City, he explained, had been struggling with injuries and he was forced to prioritize in a crucial week featuring not just the Kiev game but also Sunday's League Cup final against Liverpool.
City had written to the Football Association to complain about the scheduling of the Chelsea game, having wanted it played Saturday.
All this turmoil plays into the hands of outsider Kiev, which has reached the knock-out stages for the first time since it was beaten by Bayern Munich in the 1999 semifinals.
This will be the Ukrainian champion’s first official match after a two-and-a-half-month winter break, during which it has tried to maintain sharpness in a series of friendlies.
Kiev's key concern is the physical shape of winger Andriy Yarmolenko, who spent two months on the sidelines with a knee injury suffered in the final game of the group stage against Maccabi.
It has also made a plea to its fans to behave during the game after the club had initially been ordered by UEFA to play the tie in an empty stadium following incidents in the match against Chelsea in October.
However, UEFA reduced the sanction on appeal.
PSV will miss banned De Jong
PSV Eindhoven, meanwhile, will miss striker Luuk de Jong when it entertains Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 Wednesday.
Philip Cocu's side won all its home games in the group stage but must take on 2014 runner-up Atletico without the suspended De Jong who has scored 17 goals this season to help lift PSV to the top of the Dutch championship.
Cocu, though, will be encouraged by the return of influential Mexican midfielder Andres Guardado following a hamstring injury.
PSV has kept clean sheets in its last three domestic league games to edge one point ahead of second-placed Ajax Amsterdam.
Second-placed Atletico slipped eight points adrift of Barcelona after Sunday's 0-0 draw at home to Villarreal but will also take heart from a consistent rearguard that has conceded 11 goals in 25 La Liga games this season.
Coach Diego Simeone said his team was still on course to achieve its targets.
Atletico won 13 points out of 18 in the Champions League group stage and will hope to repeat the 3-0 win it recorded in Eindhoven in the 2008-09 Champions League when the two clubs were in the same first-round section.
The return match in Madrid is on March 15. — Agencies
