Frustration in excelsis. City are out of the Champions League save for a daunting trip to arguably the finest side in Europe, Borussia Dortmund. Post match reaction to the Real draw…
Roberto Mancini:
‘We didn’t lose qualification tonight, we lost it two or three weeks ago. We knew that it was really difficult for us to go through…we tried but Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund deserved to go through more than us. We will try to go into the Europa League… we need to win in Dortmund. Until you reach the semi or the final of the tournament it’s not as important as the Champions League but it could still be an important title for us.
‘We made some mistakes. This group was very difficult and we started the group with defeat against Madrid. We were 2-1 up and we lost. From then on everything was very complicated.’
Jose Mourinho:
‘We played a great game tonight, particularly in the first half. We did enough to win the game by a comfortable margin, maybe two nil.
City, with their thousands of attacking options like Aguero, Tevez, Nasri, Dzeko and us with just ten men, I was pleased that we managed to hold on and the main thing is that we qualified.
‘I admire the fact that clubs support their manager. City is out of the Champions League. But Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are very good teams and we knew a big team would be out. It is good that it was City because Roberto can work without any kind of problem I believe. If it was Real Madrid, the press wouldn’t let me return to Madrid.’
Joe Hart:
‘We’re very disappointed. We’ve had a few opportunities in this group when we could have done a lot better. All the games have cost us…we led in Amsterdam and led in Madrid. It’s been a disappointing campaign. We’ve surprised ourselves in a very, very bad way in this competition.’
Pablo Zabaleta:
‘Obviously disappointed…we didn’t play well in the first half…and it cost us. In the second half the spirit was different and the tempo was there but unfortunately we didn’t score the second goal. We need to keep our heads up now and think about Chelsea on Sunday.’
CITY ON TWATTER:
Vincent Kompany:
‘The opportunity to claim our place at the top of European football will come again. No sad faces, just the hunger to improve. #MCFC’
Kun Aguero:
‘We gave our best, but we couldn’t win. Without a doubt, the Champions League is a missing subject. But there’s always a rematch in football’
UPCOMING FIXTURES
all times East Manchester
Su 25 Nov 16h00 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge, PL
We 28 Nov 20h00 Wigan, DW Stadium, PL
Sa 01Dec 15h00 Everton, The Etihad, PL
Tu 04Dec 19h45 B Dortmund, Signal Iduna Park, CL
Su 09Dec 13h30 The rags, The Etihad, PL
Sa 15Dec 12h45 Newcastle, St James’ Park, PL
Sa 22Dec 15h00 Reading, The Etihad, PL
We 26Dec 15h00 Sunderland, Stadium of Light, PL
Sa 29Dec 15h00 Norwich, Carrow Road, PL
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