Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta is shocked by the tough preseason regime of manager Manuel Pellegrini.

City's Argentine ­defender, along with countryman Sergio Aguero, has been on international duty and both had their eyes opened when they jetted into South Africa.

Pellegrini had ordered TRIPLE training sessions to turn their Durban HQ into a boot camp.

Zabaleta said: "Sergio and I had an extra week because we played with the national team. Now we are catching up with some hard work."