Mancini admits his new kids on the block must improve to compete with Champions League elite
MANCHESTER CITY 2 vs BAYERN MUNICH 0
MANCHESTER CITY manager Roberto Mancini admitted his team must learn from their mistakes if they are to avoid a repeat of their embarrassing Champions League group stage exit next season.
The Premier League leaders comfortably overcame an under-strength Bayern Munich last night thanks to goals either side of half-time from David Silva and Yaya Toure, but Napoli’s 2-0 win against Villarreal condemned Mancini’s men to the ignominy Europa League football in the new year.
He said: “We will be back and we hope for better next year. We are a good team and we are sorry for our supporters and my players who deserve to play in the Champions League. But we need to improve. We got the hardest group, we knew that before the start.
“Usually with 10 points you always go through, 99 per cent of the time. It was a tough group and we made some mistakes but that can happen and the game in Naples did it. Congratulations to Napoli.”
Mancini added they would target winning the Europa League, although he acknowledged that having to play on Thursday nights would make winning the Premier League a tougher proposition.
He said: “Our lives aren’t finished now, we will go into the Europa League and it is an important trophy for Manchester City. We need to win more trophies.
“Maybe now we think that the Europa League is not important but, if you arrive in the final, it is very important. I’ve never won the Europa League.”
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | LAST 16
GROUP WINNERS
Bayern Munich, Inter, Benfica, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, APOEL FC, Barcelona
GROUP RUNNERS-UP
Napoli, CSKA Moscow, Basel, Lyon, Leverkusen, Marseille, Zenit, AC Milan
EUROPA LEAGUE
Manchester City, Trabzonspor, Manchester United, Ajax, Valencia, Olympiacos, Porto, Viktoria Plzen