Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini believes his side’s group stage in the UEFA Champions League is down to being beaten by better sides and not an embarrassment for the English champions.
The Citizens will take on Borussia Dortmund in their final group game in Germany on Tuesday, having already been eliminated from the competition, with their hopes of qualifying for the Europa League still alive.
“I believe that there are times when there are teams in football that are better than you and you have to respect that,” Mancini said with Dortmund and Real Madrid the top two in the group, while Ajax Amsterdam sit third.
“We have to accept that Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid played better than we did and we’ll have to try again next season. But it was not an embarrassment.”
As for speculation, City don’t want to play in the Europa League, the Italian insisted that was not true.
“In the Europa League you play on Thursdays, so that’s a bit tricky, but we still want to make it and will try everything to go through and then go as far as possible there,” he said.