Touré content with ideal start for City

Yaya Touré told UEFA.com Manchester City FC had made the ideal start to the UEFA Champions League after picking up their first opening-night triumph at the third time of asking.

The Ivory Coast international scored a sublime second as City claimed a 3-0 victory at FC Viktoria Plzeň to register their first win in an opening group stage fixture in three attempts. While visiting captain Vincent Kompany was equally content to have left the Czech Republic with three points, Plzeň midfielder Tomáš Hořava rued the fact "our minds stayed in the dressing room" during the early stages of the second half in which the game was torn away from the hosts.

Matúš Kozáčik, Plzeň goalkeeper
We held them up in the first half, but we can have some regrets about the second half, particularly the way we started it. We conceded two goals in quick succession and the match was decided. City proved to be of a much higher level in comparison to the opponents we have played against so far in this season. We felt that they have some of the best players in the world.

We survived a few good chances in the first half and I thought we might prevent them from scoring for much longer, but it was not so. Such teams always punish every mistake, especially when they are so strong on the counterattack. It was a shame we did not take one of our chances we worked so hard to create.

Tomáš Hořava, Plzeň midfielder 
It was a good scoreline for us at half-time, but you have to admit that we were lucky that Manchester City didn't score some of their chances. It seemed to me that our minds stayed in the dressing room as we conceded three goals within ten minutes and the match was over.

I believe that if we had kept the clean sheet for 15 or 20 minutes longer, Manchester City – as the favourites – could have become a bit nervous, but we failed to achieve this. They showed us their great quality, which was especially seen in their second and third goal; they did it unbelievably well. They were very strong on the ball, it was difficult to take it from them.  But we could have played a better match if we had fought more and been more compact.

Yaya Touré, Manchester City midfielder
It was a good start after so many years. The Champions League is a very, very difficult competition especially away from home. For us it was important to start well, take three points, even though we knew it was a tough team. After the first half we were a little frustrated as we'd missed some chances, and we started to doubt, but it went well in the second half.

The difference was made by us being compact, trying to win the ball back high up the pitch as Agüero did on the counterattack. He passed to [Edin] Džeko, who cold-bloodedly slipped the ball inside the post. It was magnificent, and that opened up the game.

We have had some great players come in. We've worked hard with the new coach. The competition is very difficult, but we want to go far in the Champions League and to make a superb challenge for the other competitions we're in. It's going to be very difficult though. The most important thing for us is to do well and impress.

The game against Bayern is the most important one. We're at home, and it's the most important thing for us to take three points against the champions. I think it'll be a great game, and we'll see our level of play. It'll be an open game as we won't defend and Bayern won't either with the coach they have, Guardiola. It'll be a super game, and we're all excited at the prospect of playing in that match.

Vincent Kompany, Manchester City FC defender
A good start, a super match and the result that we needed. There was a bit of frustration perhaps as we didn't take our chances in the first half, but everyone was calm at half-time. We knew that we still had 45 minutes to push on, and we just had to score the chances we had. We'd already had some good opportunities in the first half, and we did the same in the second. We scored, and that opened up the game.

It's an important game against Bayern, but we know that if we want to qualify, the most important matches will be those against Plzeň and CSKA Moscow. If we win our meetings with them, we know we'll qualify, but playing against the European champions, there's nothing better than that.