Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has defended his decision to rest several key players for the 4-2 Premier League defeat to Southampton on Sunday.

The Chilean accepted that he had an eye on Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg encounter against Real Madrid when opting to rest the likes of Sergio Aguero, Kevin de Bruyne and Vincent Kompany.

"I always try to select a team we think will win the game," Pellegrini told Sky Sports.

"I also think I had to select a team because we play on Wednesday.

"Maybe if we played on Saturday, we'd have another option for this game, but playing with too many players too often makes it difficult to always get a result."

City drew 0-0 with Real at home on Tuesday ahead of the return bout at the Santiago Bernabeu this coming Wednesday.