Roberto Mancini blamed Manchester City's catalogue of errors throughout the campaign for Wednesday's Champions League exit, but defiantly stated that he wants to qualify for the Europa League..
With such a busy league schedule still to come, Mancini was asked if he would prefer to avoid extra fixtures in the Europa League, but the Italian replied on Sky Sports: "We want to be in the Europa League, if it is possible."Mancini saw his men crash out of the competition at the Etihad, drawing 1-1 with Real Madrid when only a win would do. They must now win in Dortmund and hope Ajax do not beat Madrid in order to enter the Europa League.
Reflecting on City's doomed campaign, which has seen them take three points from five matches, Mancini recalled key moments away at Madrid and Ajax, when both times City led before losing.
"We didn't lose it tonight, we lost it in the first games. Madrid [away] and Dortmund at home, and at Ajax, we made mistakes. At Madrid we were leading 2-1 with five minutes to go. At Ajax we led 1-0 with two chances to close the game.
"I hope this helps to give us more experience. I am disappointed, like everyone here. But also, when we started this group we knew it was a difficult group. We are a good team, but when you play Madrid or Dortmund, these things can happen. We wanted to go to the next stage.
"We will try to go into the Europa League," he pledged. "We need to win in Dortmund. Also because probably because until the semi-final or final, it is not important like the Champions League but if you arrive in the final it could be an important trophy for us."
Mancini was asked if he feared the sack to which he replied: "No," he replied. "Why? I don't fear this. If we think we can win a Champions League after two years, I think we are crazy.
"Chelsea tried to win a Champions League for 10 years. Probably in their best moments they didn't win, and when they deserve to win a Champions League they didn't win. The Champions League is strange, is difficult. Probably we need to improve our team. There are a lot of teams better than us in the Champions League."
Even in Wednesday's encounter, a clear defensive error from Maicon allowed Madrid to open the scoring, and Mancini insisted his team simply had to cut out such problems. He also paid tribute to the club's fans, who sang Mancini's name at full-time.
"The fans are fantastic, always they understand we are disappointed like them. They are really important because the season is not finished. We have the league, the FA Cup, other competitions.
"The first chance [Madrid] had, they scored. We made a mistake because we had five against two in the box and we conceded a goal. When you start this way, it's always difficult.
"We were 1-0 down and had nothing to lose, so we pushed up and played better, but also Madrid just played better than us in the first half."
Jose Mourinho taunted Mancini by saying that if his side had failed to qualify, he could be out of a job. He said: "In this group we knew from the beginning a big team [would go] out and it is good it is City because Roberto can work without any problem. If it was Real, the press wouldn't let me return to Madrid.
"It is incredible that you look at the array of players they have got that they have been eliminated in the group stages two years running."
Mourinho's former club Chelsea, who are in danger of an early exit from the Champions League, have sacked Roberto Di Matteo, but City are expected to stick with Mancini. "I think that's good," Mourinho added. "I think the club must support its manager the maximum they can until the last day when they decide to make a change."
The Portuguese wished his old adversary Rafa Benitez well at Stamford Bridge after the Spaniard was appointed Di Matteo's successor.
He added: "Everybody knows I like my old teams. I like Chelsea, I like Inter, I like Porto, I like my old teams to win so I always wish good to the managers of my former clubs so I wish good [luck] to Benitez."
Mourinho said he was sorry to see Di Matteo leave, explaining: "I am never happy when a manager is sacked because it can happen to me. I always feel sorry for him and his family because our lives are very similar." Joe Hart said the English champions had surprised themselves "in a very bad way" after they posted a fifth straight result without a win in Europe.
"It's incredibly disappointing," Hart said on Sky Sports. "It's incredibly frustrating. We're a very good team and we've surprised ourselves in a very bad way. We weren't able to do the business when it mattered.
"All games have cost us. We've lost two away games and drawn at home. We led in the away games and lost. It's been a bad campaign for us."
"The ref's not had the best night. I'm not usually one to blame officials, but the ball's out of play for 20 minutes, I'm surprised at them for doing that," Hart said. "But we're out of the competition."
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