Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has stated that his side are ready to challenge in Europe, and have improved from last season.
Roberto Mancini’s men were five minutes away from a memorable 2-1 win over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, but two late Los Blancos goals denied the Premier League champions in a 3-2 defeat.
After being eliminated in the group stages of the European competition last season, the Ivory Coast international feels that City are ready to progress to the latter stages this time round.
“It was not like group games I have played in before — it had the feel of a quarter-final or semi-final of the Champions League,” Toure stated to The Sun.
“And that’s where we want to be, so it was a fantastic game for us to be part of.
“For us this was a good test to see what level we are at and to see where we want to go. This shows City are continuing to improve and continuing to learn in Europe.
“We still have a lot of games to get the points we need.
“It’s really important that we do better than last year and get to the knockout stages. If we can it will prove we are developing as a European team,” he concluded.
City take on Arsenal next on Sunday in the Premier League.
By Gareth McKnight
