Blues in Euro heaven

ROMA 0. Manchester City 2

SAMIR Nasri hailed a miracle after inspiring Manchester City to a brilliant victory over Roma that prolonged their Champions League campaign against the odds.

French playmaker Nasri struck a stunning first goal as City completed a remarkable escape from the group stage with a 2–0 win in the fevered atmosphere of the Stadio Olimpico.

City looked to be heading out of the competition before they staged a brilliant comeback against Bayern Munich in their penultimate Group ‘E’ game just over two weeks ago.

Their chances nosedived again when they lost the driving force for their recent upturn in form, Sergio Aguero, to injury but City made light of his absence and those of Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure.

Their unexpected win in the Italian capital, completed by Pablo Zabaleta after 86 minutes, saw City edge ahead of both Roma and CSKA Moscow to snatch a place in the last 16.

“It feels great,” Nasri said. “It was the target at the start of the night and we knew if we were patient we would win the game.

“We are happy because it was a miracle after four games, when we had two points. But it is always the same with City, we like to do it the hard way and we did it again.”

City were second best for most of the first half and were fortunate to escape damage early on as Roma, inspired by former Arsenal forward Gervinho, tore into them.

With goalkeeper Joe Hart outstanding, they managed to survive and went ahead on the hour when Nasri hit a powerful long-range shot that flew in off the near post.

Roma hit the post through Kostas Manolas, but it was to no avail and City ensured progress when Nasri held the ball up in the area and teed up a second goal for the inrushing Zabaleta as time ran down.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini claimed he was always confident that his team could deliver despite the daunting–looking nature of the fixture.

Pellegrini said: “It is not relief because I think we always trusted – especially after we beat Bayern Munich – that we would have a lot of chances to qualify here.

“I am very happy because we won against a very difficult team in a difficult stadium.

“We played very well from the beginning of the game.”