Pablo Zabaleta has found the perfect pick-me-up following his World Cup heartache – the chase for more City glory.

The Blues defender was devastated, along with clubmates Sergio Aguero and Martin Demichelis, when Argentina lost the Maracana final to Germany last month.

But he says that the prospect of a bright new Premier League season has already banished the bitter disappointment to the back of his mind.

“Of course it was tough to get over it,” said Zabaleta, who played every minute of his country’s exciting charge to the final.

“It’s hard when you get to the final. It’s the game that everyone dreams of playing in and once you’re there, you expect to win.

“You think being world champions would be something amazing.

“It was a big shame not to win it after coming so close but we hope we made our country very proud.

“This happens in football - but it was a great experience to be involved in the final.”
Zabaleta returned to action in the 3-1 win over Liverpool on Monday night, and agrees that more success with the Blues – after Premier League and League Cup triumphs last season – would be a great tonic.

Air Jordan 6 Retro Sale “That would help,” he said. “When you go on holiday you think about what happened in Brazil but then you start to think about coming back to see your team-mates and people in the club.

“Once you’re back here and training again, mentally you prepare to go again.

“The situation is that you want this club to carry on enjoying success and I think we have a great chance to do that and win as many trophies as we can.”

Zabaleta’s return to City action was delayed by his World Cup exploits, and he may have to make way for new boy Bacary Sagna against Stoke on Saturday as manager Manuel Pellegrini tries to get his whole squad up to speed.

Pellegrini is conscious of the fact that several of his squad, such as Sagna, Sergio Aguero, Eliaquim Mangala and Frank Lampard are lagging behind in terms of preparation due to a late arrival at pre-season training.

And Zabaleta says, worryingly for the rest of the league, that the Blues are still functioning well below capacity.

“At the moment we are not all at the same level physically. We have only been back for three weeks and others have been here since July 7.

“We need to work even more if we’d been at the World Cup so we are not 100 per cent fit yet. In a few more games we will be though.”

Air Jordan Shoes Sale The World Cup had greatest effect on Sergio Aguero, who suffered from more muscle problems during the finals, and ended coming from the bench in the final.

Air Jordans for Sale Since returning to City, he has been put on a strict regime aimed at strengthening his troublesome hamstrings, and has been used sparingly by Pellegrini.

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The Chilean wants to nurse him through the opening weeks of the season in the hope that by the time the Blues face Arsenal, Chelsea and the first group match of the Champions League – in the space of seven days – he will be fit and firing on all cylinders.

Says Pellegrini: “He is not starting because he is still doing his pre-season and it has been a very difficult start for us, not just because in our first five games we have Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal but because we have ten players who only worked for 20 days before the league started, and others who had just one week.

“That is not enough to prepare for the season. That is why I was a little bit scared about our beginning, but we have six points against very difficult teams.”

Pellegrini’s plan has worked perfectly so far, with Stevan Jovetic filling the gap admirably with a two-goal display against Liverpool, while he and Edin Dzeko engineered the opening-day win at Newcastle.

And with Aguero exploding off the bench to score late killer goals in both games, there has been no need to rush his return.

The goal against Liverpool took 23 seconds from his arrival as a substitute, as he latched on to Jesus Navas’ pass.

Aguero is also certain to be involved against Stoke on Saturday, but whether he starts and comes off, or is used as an impact sub again, remains to be seen.

Said Zabaleta: “He just needed two touches and he’d scored. He’s one of the best players around but he needs to be fit.

“He’s coming back late but he’s come off the bench to get two goals in two games. On Monday he took less than one minute, against Newcastle it was a bit longer.

“We need Sergio at his best, he’s a great player - the main striker and hopefully he’ll score a lot of goals this season.”