Ruben Dias is convinced Manchester City still have the firepower to turn around their Champions League tie against Real Madrid.
City’s hopes of reaching the last 16 suffered a heavy blow as they conceded two goals late on to lose the first leg of their play-off against the Spanish giants 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
The hosts had led twice on the night through Erling Haaland but the Norwegian’s efforts were cancelled out by Kylian Mbappe and Brahim Diaz before Jude Bellingham grabbed a stoppage-time winner.
It was another frustrating result in what has been an underwhelming campaign from City and they must now produce a remarkable turnaround against the holders at the Bernabeu Stadium next week to progress.
“We’re upset with it,” said defender Dias. “Of course it’s frustrating.
“It’s always going to be a different kind of game between us, and there are chances both ways, but if you end up playing the last minutes with a 2-1 lead and you cannot let it go the way we did.
“We need to do better, it is as simple as that. Now it is a matter of belief – how much do we believe in ourselves and believe we can go through.
We have enough ‘gun-power’ to pull off anything
“We just need to accept the moment we are in. What we did before is not enough.
“But the good thing at the end of the day is that in this team, in this club, if we believe enough in ourselves and if we believe enough we’re going to win it, we can do everything.
“We have enough ‘gun-power’ to pull off anything – but we need to believe in it.”
One of the main talking points from the game was the banner unveiled by City fans before the game poking fun at Real’s irritation with Rodri’s Ballon d’Or win last year.
Real boycotted the ceremony to crown the world’s best player in frustration that Rodri had won the vote ahead of their own Vinicius Junior.
‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out,’ read the banner, alongside a picture of Rodri kissing the trophy.
Vinicius, who proved a danger to City all night, admitted after the game seeing the message had provided extra motivation.
“Whenever the opposing fans do things like that they give me more strength to have a great game and here I have done it,” the Brazilian said.
City defender Nathan Ake said: “I didn’t see the banner. It’s got nothing to do with us as a team. We just focused on the game.”
Ake conceded it has been difficult to pin down what City’s problems have been this season.
After four successive Premier League titles, the club have fallen off the pace domestically and they only scraped into the Champions League play-off round after finishing 22nd in the league phase.
Defeat in the Spanish capital next week would leave the FA Cup as the only piece of silverware they could win this term.
The Dutchman said: “To give it away like that is frustrating and hard to take, especially because it’s happened a few times now this season and we haven’t learned from it yet. We have to do that as soon as possible.
“We’re trying to find the reason why (it keeps happening). There are little details that some games you can get away with but these kind of games you won’t get away with because they’re a top team.
“The next one is coming thick and fast so we have to be ready.”
