By Simon Stone, Press Association
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Manchester City's Champions League exit could have a nasty postscript after skipper Vincent Kompany left the Etihad Stadium on crutches last night.
Kompany took a knock during the second half of the 1-1 draw with Real Madrid and, although the Belgian was able to complete the game, he was not moving freely.
Manager Roberto Mancini can only hope Kompany has not sustained too much damage, particularly with a visit to Chelsea looming on Sunday.
Clash of the titans: Vincent Kompany went up against Cristiano Ronaldo
'The opportunity to claim our place at the top of European football will come again,' said Kompany on Twitter.
'No sad faces, just the hunger to improve.'
Mancini is certain he will get the chance to implement the plans too, despite a second successive group stage failure.
Whilst not even winning the competition last season has provided any security of tenure for Roberto Di Matteo, it seems his fellow Italian is operating from a sturdier platform.
Mancini rejected outright the notion that Sheikh Mansour would deliver a harsh judgment, saying:
'No. I don't fear this. Why?
'We still have the Premier League and the FA Cup.
'If we think we can win the Champions League after two years we are crazy.'
Mancini's reasoning is that City require more experience at this level before they can truly compete for the greatest prize.
'Chelsea tried to win Champions League for 10 years,' he said.
'In the best moments, when Didier Drogba was young, they didn't win.
'They did it last year when no-one thought they could.
'We need to improve our team because there are a lot of teams better than us.
'I am not saying if you get to February you can't win. Anything can happen. But we didn't do that.'
Doubt: The City captain received treatment 10 minutes from time, but played the full 90
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