Dynamo Kiev 1 Manchester City 3: Manuel Pellegrini hails decision to play second string side in Chelsea loss

City put in a dominant performance in the Ukraine

Manuel Pellegrini looks on from the touchline (Getty Images)

Manuel Pellegrini hailed the decision to play a second-string team at Chelsea on Sunday as vindicated by Manchester City's emphatic 3-1 Champions League at Dynamo Kyiv last night.

City made 10 changes from the side beaten 5-1 at Stamford Bridge and blew Dynamo away with their full-strength team, who were well rested. Pellegrini said his controversial rotation policy was "key" to this ground-breaking win.

"I think it's important to take the right decision and think about a lot of things, about why you take this decision," Pellegrini said. “But in this case, having just 13 players, it was a key decision to rest the team that day. Unfortunately we could not continue in the FA Cup."

This win puts one foot in the quarter finals for City, who have never reached the last eight of this competition before. Pellegrini hailed the side's steady improvement in his three years at the Etihad Stadium.

“Each season we improve a little bit more', he said. "The last two seasons we qualified for the last 16 and this season we made the important progress of winning the group, which was an improvement from last season. We now have the chance to arrive at the next stage and it's important if you can be among the best eight teams in Europe."

Aguero (third from right) reacts fastest to score Manchester City’s first goal in Kiev (Getty)

Pellegrini warned the side that they cannot lose focus ahead of the second leg at the Etihad Stadium in two weeks time.

“I think it's an important result, but the tie is not finished," he said. "It's important to know we are 90 minutes away, but also important to understand we need a good performance at home."