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Joe Hart says Manchester City can win remaining Champions League games• Goalkeeper believes his side can win Group E
• Assistant manager denies Yaya Touré was carrying an injury
• Bayern Munich 1-0 Manchester City – match report
• Yaya Touré fails to turn up against Bayern MunichShare 25
inShare.0Email Jamie Jackson at Allianz Arena
The Guardian, Thursday 18 September 2014 Jérôme Boateng, who scored Bayern’s last-gasp winner, consoles his former team-mate Joe Hart after the game. Photograph: Matthew Ashton/AMA/Corbis
Joe Hart is insistent Manchester City can win the remaining five matches of a Champions League group that also includes Roma and CSKA Moscow.
Hart, who was among City’s best players at the Allianz Arena, said: “We can match Bayern Munich, we have some very tough games now and we have to play well against CSKA and Roma. We’re confident we can win the rest of our games. We fought hard all night against a good team – you know what you get when you come.
“A nasty deflection at the end has done us and Jérôme Boateng comes back to haunt us. It would have been a well-deserved draw. We made good chances, good blocks and we made them work hard for everything.”
With Roma the next opposition, at the Etihad Stadium at the end of the month, the matches against the Italian club may decide whether City progress. In reaction to Roma’s 5-1 trouncing of CSKA, Hart said: “Roma won 5-1? Wow.”
Looking ahead to Chelsea’s visit on Sunday, Hart said: “It doesn’t get any easier for us but that’s the beauty of playing for this side – you get big game after big game. We like to think of ourselves as big-game players, so we need to step up again on Sunday. It’s a big week for us [after drawing 2-2 at Arsenal]. We’ve not won for a little while, so we need to step up.
“We need to win. It’s a close Premier League, they are a title rival and we need to beat them.”
Manuel Pellegrini decided to drop Sergio Agüero in order to save the striker for Chelsea. Rubén Cousillas, the assistant who stood in for the manager because of a Uefa ban, defended Pellegrini’s move.
“We know that Kun Agüero has high importance but [Edin] Dzeko has as well,” Cousillas said. “They’re both very strong. We have to play against Chelsea next and Manuel said: ‘We had to rotate, everyone is going to get chance to play.’ All these opponents are so strong. We want the team to work and function.”
Of the late defeat Cousillas said: “Definitely we are frustrated. We made a really good game and also good entertainment for the people – we had two teams that tried to make goals. To concede in last minute was frustrating.”
He reiterated Hart’s view that City can still win Group E. “Well, it’s the first game, we have only just begun, but there are many games ahead and we don’t have to be too sad,” he said. “We still can become first in the group. Naturally, of course, it’s not good to start with a defeat, but there are five games ahead so it means it depends on us, the team is really strong at home. It’s a really difficult group but I’m sure we are going to make it.”
Despite a disappointing display from Yaya Touré, Cousillas confirmed the midfielder was not carrying an injury. “He was absolutely fit and physically without problem,” he said.
Regarding City’s late claim for a penalty when David Silva went down, Cousillas said: “From my position I couldn’t see that really well. Some people said it could have been a penalty but this is a decision for referee and I don’t want to comment on that. You’ve seen what the result is and we can’t complain about that.”
no, yaya wasn't injured. nice hint about some kind of mental problem. wanker.
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