Kolarov hopeful of a strong season finish

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Manchester City left back Aleksandar Kolarov says they have now turned their attention to Premier League and FA Cup, after being eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday.

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Pep Guardiola’s side were eliminated from the European competition after suffering a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Monaco, with the Ligue 1 side qualifying for the quarter-finals on away goals, after the two-legged tie finished level at 6-6.

The Serbian defender admits that Monaco were the better team on the day, but he insists that his side will now focus on finishing strongly in both the Premier League and FA Cup.

‘We have two months until the end of the season, so I hope we are going to finish in the best way possible in the Premier League and FA Cup,’ Kolarov told the Manchester City website.

‘We have to work hard to improve every game and we will see where we can reach in the end.

‘The aggregate score was 6-6, they scored more goals away and they played very good. I think we are a better team than them, but in the moment we didn’t play the first half like we wanted to. I’d like to congratulate them on going through.

‘It’s very painful at this moment for us and a difficult day, but we have to look forward to the next games.’

Meanwhile, teammate John Stones admits that his side were not clinical enough in front of goal and lacked composure in the final third.

‘Not up to our standard in the first half. We wanted to correct that, but we weren’t clinical enough in both boxes. We didn’t score enough and weren’t defensively solid enough,’ Stones said.

‘The second half didn’t reflect the whole scoreline. We were the City people know from this season. We should have scored more. It is a difficult one for us to take. We should have done better and deserve to be in the next round.

‘The gaffer was saying before, that the more and more he plays the Champions League it is about the set-pieces. Real Madrid scored from two last week and went through. We weren’t solid enough.’

Manchester City will now take on Liverpool in what is expected to be an entertaining Premier League encounter on Sunday.

The match at the Etihad Stadium kicks off at 18:30.

Image: Manchester City website