The Manchester City boss has been left fuming at the authorities once again after they refused to move their game against Southampton on Sunday ahead of their trip to Real Madrid
Manuel Pellegrini has once again railed against English football's establishment, branding the decision not to bring forward Manchester City's clash with Southamptonas "unbelievable". City's game against the Saints had originally been moved to a 16:30 kick-off for television purposes, but the club were hopeful of getting it rescheduled again in light of their Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Their previous league game, against Stoke City, was moved from Sunday to Saturday to give them more time to prepare for the first leg and City had enquired about the possibility of doing likewise this time around.
But they were told any official request would have ended in failure, leaving them with considerably less time to recover than Madrid, who play on Saturday afternoon.
Pellegrini says he cannot get his head around the decision, especially as English clubs face the possibility of losing a Champions League spot if they are overtaken by their Italian counterparts in the coefficient tables.
"For me it is unbelievable," the City boss said. "If you see other leagues, including Italy, the teams that play Champions League play their domestic games on a Friday.
"So I think it's better for English football, because if you don't continue in the Champions League, and I'm not talking just about Manchester City, maybe we are going to lose a spot for the next Champions League."
Pellegrini has already criticised the authorities over their scheduling this season, with City's FA Cup fifth-round clash at Chelsea also falling on the Sunday before a European away trip.
The Football Association did not move that match despite an official request due to complications with local police and broadcasters, a decision which did not go down well with Pellegrini.
He received criticism for fielding a youthful team which was soundly beaten 5-1 but insists something must be done to allow English clubs to prosper in Europe and also take domestic cups seriously.
"I said about the FA Cup that the format of the cup is strong," he continued. "You cannot continue to the Champions League and FA Cup to the end because you have three [league] games postponed until the last week of the season.
"It’s impossible. That’s why I took the decision to play with a young team against Chelsea. That’s something the FA must review in the future.


"In the Premier League, I don’t understand why having so many games - and they all have the same interest - that we can’t play one day before and have 24 hours, at least having the same as Real Madrid.
"It’s not my answer to say because maybe there are things about TV rights to make that decision.
"It’s different with the FA Cup. I wasn’t happy in that moment to not continue in the FA Cup. They must review that because it’s impossible to be in both competitions.
"The FA Cup is an important, old competition and deserves respect. To leave it out because you want to continue in the Champions League should not be a decision for the manager, there must be a format for the cup that allows teams to play both competitions."
Pellegrini also suggested that the Premier League's decision not to move the Southampton game has handed Real Madrid an advantage.
"As a manger you always want to have all the options but, of course, you are representing England in the Champions League, you at least don’t want to give the advantage to the other team," he added. "That is very important.
"I think its important not to give any advantage to the other team, but also you do need three days to recover.
"We are going to have those three days, also we are playing late on Sunday, in the last kick-off, but at least we are going to have three days to recover.
"It's not the best thing – if you can have four days it's better, but I think the mentality should be not to give any advantage to your rivals."