City up for the fight, says Pell

MANCHESTER City manager Manuel Pellegrini promised his team would fight on after again stuttering on the Champions League stage.

City's unconvincing 1–1 draw with Roma at the Etihad Stadium has left them with only one point from their opening two fixtures in Group E.

The Barclays Premier League champions are already five points behind group leaders Bayern Munich and again face a familiar battle to qualify for the knock–out stages.

City's next two games against CSKA Moscow away and at home are likely to be critical to their hopes of making progress.

Asked how difficult it would now be to qualify, Pellegrini said: "We don't know. It depends on the way we play the next game.

"We have just one point from six, but also we are just three points behind Roma, so there are a lot of things to play for. We hope we can win in Russia and we will see what happens against Bayern Munich.

"We have 12 more points to fight (for) and we will fight to the end to try to qualify."

City took an early lead when Sergio Aguero struck from the penalty spot, but Roma were superb in attack and pushed the hosts on to the back foot.

Their 23rd–minute equaliser, through 38–year–old Francesco Totti, who in the process became the Champions League's oldest goalscorer, was well deserved.