Manuel Pellegrini has spoken out against Real Madrid's "model" and criticised people outside the squad for trying to influence team selections when they are not qualified to do so.
Pellegrini returns to the Spanish Capital on Wednesday night as his Manchester City look to reach the Champions League final for the first time ever. The Chilean spent less than nine months as the manager of the Spanish club and was unceremoniously sacked having lost just seven in 48 games.
Speaking to El Mundo this week, Pellegrini said, "It's an honour to manage Madrid. What happens is when you manage Madrid, you have to have the capacity to accept that the club is not just sporting, it's really political.
"And to that extreme, you have to let people intefere who, for me, don't have the knowledge of football to do so," Pellegrini said in the interview.
In reference to Florentino Perez, Pellegrini added, "Ff you let people interfere who don't have football knowledge, it you let yourself be weakened by the criticism that comes from the political side, the sporting side or from personal interests, I don't think you're ready.
"I had the fortune to pass one of the most difficult tests in football and it did not change me at all. I always knew that what the players most appreciated from me was to arrive on Monday and for nothing to have changed whether we had lost or won.
"I demanded the same from them, the same concepts, independent of what was being said on the exterior. I never played a player because I was advised by someone else, or if I received more or less criticism. Madrid has its model and it won't change."
Pellegrini knew he would be sacked by Perez and revealed, "I knew in August that I was going to be sacked because [Perez] told Villarreal's president [Fernando Roig] and he told me."
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