Pellegrini dismisses Abu Dhabi trip as reason for Man City's fourth-round FA Cup exit

Manchester City football team manager Manuel Pellegrini has dismissed the club's Abu Dhabi trip just a day before their FA Cup fourth-round tie against Middlesbrough as the reason for his side's shock 2-0 home defeat.

Arab-owned City went on a trip to Abu Dhabi following their 2-0 defeat by Arsenal last weekend, for a week's warm-weather training before they arrived back in Manchester 19-hours before their FA Cup clash.

Following a goalless first half at the Etihad Stadium, City midfielder Fernando's defensive error allowed on-loan Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford to put Middlesbrough in front on 53 minutes, Stuff.co.nz reported.

City continued to be frustrated by the second tier Championship side and with time running out Middlesbrough substitute Kike added a second to seal the victory.

Despite being knocked out by lower league opposition, City boss Pellegrini refused to blame his side's late arrival from Abu Dhabi as the reason behind their poor performance.

He said that he doesn't believe that the Abu Dhabi trip was the reason for their defeat, adding that it's easy to have an excuse, but he doesn't believe that was the case.

Pellegrini claimed that before Middlesbrough scored the first goal, City had five or six clear chances, while they didn't have one chance. But he added that his side conceded a very easy goal, and the game changed, insisting that his squad was nervous.

Pellegrini claimed that Middlesbrough is a team that works well; that's why they are second in the Championship. He added that they had opportunities to score more goals and deserved to go through.