Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini praised his players after their 2-0 victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup, although he was quick to insist that he did not see the triumph as “revenge” for City’s defeat to Chelsea a couple of weeks ago.

“It wasn’t revenge that drove us - of course we don’t want to lose two games to Chelsea at home.”

The Chilean believes that his side dominated the game and were superior in all phases of play.

“Today we played very well in all senses. Defending, in possession, attacking – Chelsea didn’t have any chances to shoot and that was important to us.

“That’s why we had a little down in our performances against Norwich and Chelsea. But from what I saw in training on Friday, I was absolutely sure that we would play a very good game tonight and we did.”

The 60-year old was also keen to show his thoughts on the tactical analysis that has been floating around on the backpages of national newspapers in the past month – especially in the past month, where he has faced off with his old rival Mourinho twice.

“It’s so easy for me to talk about tactics because we won – I don’t think we had any tactical problems against Chelsea the other day - we know how they play, we know how we play.

“In the other game, we had two clear chances at the beginning, we missed and they scored. Today was not a tactical masterclass from me – I don’t believe in those things.”

Pellegrini refused to reveal whether his mindset regarding a potential lineup had been altered my players’ performances against Chelsea, with the Chilean asserting that all of his squad have an opportunity to play in the highly anticipated Champions League clash – a fixture that will see Europe’s two highest goalscorers face off at the Etihad.

“We have two important games – today and Tuesday, that’s why we had a mix of different players. We’ll see what we’ll do on Tuesday tomorrow.

“It was important for us to lose three points against a very good team, with great players – so the way we won today is important for the trust of the team, to continue in the FA Cup – a very important competition to this team.

When asked once again about the possibility of the Citizens claiming a quadruple, Pellegrini was adamant that it was not of great significance at this stage.

“We don’t talk about that [the quadruple] – we’ll try to fight in all of the competitions but I never talk about the quadruple.

“It’s one step more in a competition, I think for me the most important thing we did today was to beat a great team and also, I had a lot of questions after Chelsea, if we’re going to change our way of playing but I repeat: we will not change the way we play.

“Today was important to show why we continue to play in the same way.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho had no arguments with the result and admitted that the best team won on the night.

“I don’t think my team failed – I’d say City played much better than us.

“They deserved to win more than us – when the best teams wins, football is in peace.

“Credit my team for what they did two weeks ago and today, City were the best team, they deserved to win and they won.

“We were never close to scoring or being dominant, or bringing a scare to the game.

“One team had one week without a game, one didn’t – I think that also made a difference.”