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Manuel Pellegrini has accused the Football Association of wrecking their own competition.

The Manchester City manager has vowed to play his junior blues in Sunday’s FA Cup clash at Chelsea after his club’s plea to play the game 24 hours earlier was rejected.

With City heading to Kiev for a Champions League meeting with Dynamo on Wednesday night, Pellegrini will take no chances with his big names.

Now the City boss has pointed a finger of blame at the FA for turning Sunday’s fifth-round tie into “not a real game” - and admits he wouldn’t bother watching if he was a fan.

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(Image: AFP/Getty)

Asked if the FA were damaging the Cup, Pellegrini said: “I think so, yes. Something is not right. If I, as a manger, don’t give any importance to the FA Cup, then I must have a good reason.

“We always try to play a strong team in the cups and it would be very nice to finish with a game at Wembley. But there are some moments when you have to prioritise because you don’t receive any help and, if I didn’t, then I could damage our prospects in the Champions League.

“This is not a real game. I wouldn’t pay for a ticket. That’s why we told the fans one week ago that we are going to play with a young team. If the people want to continue going to the stadium then ok, or maybe Chelsea fans will still enjoy the game.

“But I’m not a fan and so, with the young players we have, I must see the game.”

In pictures - Man City 1-2 Spurs:

City, who last won the FA Cup in 2011 to end a 35-year wait for a trophy, are still challenging for a quadruple.

But they have lost successive Premier League home games to title rivals Leicester and Tottenham.

And four days after their trip to Ukraine, they meet Liverpool in the Capital One Cup final.

When BBC bosses chose City’s clash with Chelsea for live TV, an appeal was made by Etihad bosses for the tie to be played on Friday or Saturday.

But their request was rejected - and City insiders suspect that Chelsea may have influenced the decision.

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Pellegrini insists he always strives to give the FA Cup the respect its history deserves.

But he feels his team selection has been stymied by the FA’s intransigence. He said: “To my way of thinking you must respect every competition.

“We have had a very difficult FA Cup this season, always playing against Premier League teams away from home, so I chose strong teams and we won 3-0 and 4-0.

“I wanted to continue the same way at Chelsea. The FA Cup is a very important competition and if you can’t do well in it you must be disappointed. But you also have to be intelligent and make the best decision for the team.

“Someone said to me that we must eliminate one cup competition, but I think that the cups are good.”