Manchester City Players Admit Mistake with Champions League Maths

Alvaro Negredo and Javi Garcia have admited that no-one in the Manchester City squad knew a 4-2 win against Bayern Munich in their last Champions League game would have secured top spot in the group.

City beat Bayern 3-2 and they would have gone through as group winners with a 4-2 scoreline, based on their head-to-head record against the Germans.

The visitors scored their third goal with 28 minutes remaining but manager Manuel Pellegrini did not bring top goal scorer Sergio Aguero on, instead replacing David Silva with Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko with defensive midfielder Jack Rodwell.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini have been heavily criticised about this issue after he suggested that he was under the impression that his side had to win 5-2 to top the group.

When asked if he was tempted to bring Sergio Aguero off the bench to score the fourth goal, Pellegrini said: "I was tempted if we scored the fourth goal. Of course, that's why I sent Aguero to warm up."

Negredo and Garcia have admitted in an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca that indeed they miscalculated that a single goal would have been enough to see City through in first place - and ensure a tie against a runner-up in the round of 16.

"We did not know that winning 4-2 was enough, nobody told us anything," Garcia said.

"If I had scored the 4-2 [when he had a good chance to do it] I would have run to take the ball and go quickly to the centre circle. To be honest we did not know. We thought that we had to win by more than three goals," Negredo revealed.

Now, as City finished second in their group, they may have to face some of the best teams in Europe. Garcia revealed his preferences about the draw.

"If I have to choose one I would rather PSG to avoid the three Spanish teams", Garcia told Marca.