Manuel Pellegrini: Manchester City must improve if they want Champions League success

The Catalan giants won 3-1 on aggregate in the last 16 clash, with a sublime Ivan Rakitic chip securing victory at the Nou Camp in the second leg.

Despite Joe Hart being in imperious form between the sticks, a missed penalty from Sergio Aguero in the 77th minute summed up City's night, and to a larger extent their European campaign from the start of the season.

And speaking after the final whistle, Pellegrini bemoaned his side's inability to convert their chances, explaining: "I think we lost against a better team without doubt. Lionel Messi is very difficult to contain.

"Maybe we didn't play so well in the first half but we improved in the second and we took risks.

"We need to score two goals and we thought it might happen had we scored the penalty. That was a very important moment because we had 15 minutes more to play.

"I think we had to keep the ball more but I repeat that this Barcelona team is very good. We must improve if we want to be successful in Europe.

"We have had four games against Barcelona and we played with four different formations so [the tactics] were not a problem, it was the performance."

Pellegrini also explained the absence of defensive duo Pablo Zabaleta and Eliaquim Mangala, adding: "Pablo was not 100% recovered - he had some problems with his hamstring - and Mangala had problems with his calf."