As he prepares to face his old club Real Madrid in Tuesday's Champions League semifinal first leg, Manchester City coach Manuel Pellegrini says he holds no grudges against anyone at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
Pellegrini was appointed as first team coach when Florentino Perez returned as Madrid president in 2009, with €200 million being spent on new signings including Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso.
There followed a rollercoaster season which saw the team humbled in the Copa del Rey by third-tier Alcorcon and eliminated from the Champions League by Lyon, but take 96 points in La Liga as they pushed Pep Guardiola's eventual champions Barcelona all the way in the title race.
Throughout that season the Chilean coach was heavily criticised by the local media, without receiving any support from Florentino, who fired him to appoint Jose Mourinho in summer 2010.
Pellegrini told El Pais that he remained close to many friends he had made at Madrid, but also that he never stood a chance of success, with the club selling key players Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder against his wishes before the season.
"It was a pleasure to work there and I left behind friends and good wishes," Pellegrini said.
"I know I still have the affection and respect of many people I worked with -- employees and players, and also the fans who always supported me.
"There was never an open wound, so there is no shame or embarrassment. Many things happened which I did not agree with. In preseason Robben and Sneijder were sold, and they were key players, who went on to win trophies in Munich and Italy, both played the Champions League final [that year].
"I take responsibility for set-backs, but Madrid fired me already in August. It was not because of Alcorcon or anything else. But I do not hold a grudge against anybody."
Pellegrini said he was happy to have drawn Madrid in the semifinals of this year's competition, but not for a chance for revenge as Zinedine Zidane's current Blancos side have "vulnerabilities".
"I have no extra personal motivation," he said. "But from a sporting point of view, I would prefer to face Real Madrid, as they let you play. They are always lethal [in attack] and have some vulnerabilities because of that. But they are very competitive, and effective."
Ronaldo scored 33 goals in 35 games during his injury-affected 2009/10 campaign, and Pellegrini said that the Portuguese had been far and away the most important figure at Madrid during his seven seasons in Spain.
"Madrid is Cristiano for the last six years, you cannot understand them without him," he said.
"I had the bad luck to be without him for six weeks. He is a great professional and always makes the difference. Madrid start from him - you cannot compare him to any other players in the squad.
"They have great players like Isco, Benzema, [Gareth] Bale, Sergio Ramos. It's a great squad -- but then there is Ronaldo. He has scored so many goals over six years, and nobody will ever do that again. The team all turns around him."
Some fans might not like Ronaldo's off-pitch personality, but that was beside the point, Pellegrini maintained.
"Because he is like everyone, he has weaknesses," he said. "He gives off an external image which not everyone likes. But that does not diminish what he has done.
"I judge his performance, which is extraordinary. He makes the difference, and has kept doing it for six seasons. He is a 'supercrack'. Well ahead of the rest, like [Leo] Messi."
Asked if Messi had been a problem for Ronaldo, Pellegrini required that both superstars had benefitted from their personal rivalry to be the world's best.
"I don't believe it's his problem, maybe it was his solution, for what it has demanded of him," he said.
"Especially for the institutions, and with the fans, the competition has been good. Maybe without that neither would have done so much. It is a competition fed by the media, but which also exists on its own."