Manchester City striker Stevan Jovetic is confident his side can still qualify for the Champions League knockout stages ahead of Tuesday’s crucial game against Bayern Munich.
Jovetic, in the side because of an injury to team-mate Edin Dzeko, scored the equaliser as City came from behind to beat Swansea and solidify third spot in the Premier League.
However on Tuesday they face Germany’s top side against whom even a draw could put them out of the competition.
“To get through the group we must win, but up until now we’ve played badly in the Champions League,” said Jovetic.
“The important thing is that we still have the chance to go through. I have faith that we can do it.
“Today was a tough game because we went down early, but then we showed we are a good team and started to play like we know.
“I think we are getting back to the City team that we were last year.”
Manager Manuel Pellegrini was also optimistic over his side’s performance, despite a late rally and several chances for Swansea to equalise.
“We had the confidence to keep playing,” said the 61-year-old. “We had a lot of chances and finally we won this game against a team who played very well.
The Chilean singled out Yaya Toure, the subject of much recent criticism, for special praise after his goal won the Blues the game with 20 minutes remaining.
Pellegrini said: “I think he played very well but we can’t analyse Yaya on how many goals he scores – it’s impossible for him to score the amount of goals he scored last season. Yaya is a midfielder, he’s not a striker.”
However, the manager was conscious that his team well still not perfect, having kept just one clean sheet in their last eight games.
“It’s always better to arrive into the Champions League against a great team like Bayern, winning rather than losing.
“We’re working every day to improve defending, so I hope on Tuesday we won’t make the mistakes we made today.”
Main image courtesy of Manchester City FC via YouTube, with thanks.
