Raheem Sterling will have the last laugh on former club Liverpool – according to Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini.
Sterling became a hate figure among Liverpool fans when he left them for City last summer in a £49million record deal for a British player.
The England star is certain to be targeted by Liverpool fans at Wembley, but Pellegrini backed him to handle the abuse and help lead City to glory.
“I don’t think he has anything to prove,” said Pellegrini. “For him, that motivation is very good.
“I hope he will be focused just on having a good performance and not thinking about the boos he receives during the game or what happened in the past.
“He’s now a Manchester City player and he will try to win for us.
“For every player it’s never comfortable to play against an old team. Everyone has links and friends inside the club.
“But he’s a professional player. He came here to win titles and I’m sure he will have a very good performance.
“If we win a couple of titles and Raheem has an important performance, it will be a good season for him. But I don’t think it’s good to analyse his season in this moment.
“He’s done good things, bad things and was very important the other day [when City won 3-1 away to Dynamo Kiev].
“But he’s a very young player, so he must improve every year.
“If you ask me if I’m happy to bring him here this year then, yes, I’m very happy. He continues to improve and give a lot of things to our squad.
“He has a lot of speed, good technique, goals – that’s why we bought him. I’m sure he can be a very successful player, but it will depend on the way he improves.”
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