CSKA satisfied, City demand improvement

• CSKA buoyant after fighting back for 2-2 draw with Manchester City
• Leonid Slutski: "I'm happy we showed our mentality, quality and saved a draw"
• Manuel Pellegrini says "you have to play for 90 minutes"
• Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany believe poor second half cost City
• Next games: Manchester City v CSKA (5 November)

Leonid Slutski, CSKA coach
I can't say that we totally failed in the first half. I don't remember City creating any good chances before their first goal. I'm happy that we managed to show our mentality, quality and save a draw. Any team will make mistakes if they play against City. It was clear from the very beginning that we are not favourites at all in our group. It's positive that we have earned a point. We will have a few more hard matches.

We knew that [Seydou] Doumbia could not play more than 45 minutes – but he had enough time to score a goal and to earn a penalty.

As usual, we were in a very difficult situation with players. Therefore, we decided to play with three central defenders, waiting for opportunities to counterattack. I cannot say that the plan did not work. But, from their first attack, we conceded a goal.

In the second half, it was necessary to change things and I am pleased that we saved the game.

Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City manager
Football is 95 minutes, it's not just the first half. We played very well in the first half, we scored two goals and had many more clear chances to score.
CSKA are a good team and if you give them space, they can be very dangerous.

Maybe it was complacency. We didn't move the ball as well as [in the] first half and didn't have one chance to score. Finally, they scored the penalty.

Everyone knows football lasts 95 minutes. We are playing against a difficult team, who finally drew the game, but I don't think it's related to [the level of competition in] the Champions League.

We have nine points more to play for and, after we've played those games, we'll see who has more points. We will play and fight until the end. Of course we can still qualify.

Zoran Tošić, CSKA midfielder
We chose to play like this because [Seydou] Doumbia was not fit and we chose that tactic to play with five defenders. We changed our approach in the second half and we played our game. We knew how to play as we have been playing with these tactics for five years. We began to create more chances and played better.

A victory is when you win three points and it does not matter who you play against. When you win, you win. It is not a bad result as we were playing against a strong opponent and we were 2-0 down, but we came back and scored two goals so I think we can be happy.

We have strong opponents against us. We have three games ahead and we will try to do our best. We will see what happens.

Mário Fernandes, CSKA defender
Everyone knew from the start that this would not be an easy group and every single match would be incredibly difficult. Today we thought we needed to win. Things did not go our way in the first half and we conceded two goals.

But in the second half we were a completely different side. We attacked more and managed to save the game. We have three games left in the group stage and I hope we can win them. We want to reach the knockout stage.

Ahmed Musa, CSKA forward
I feel very happy as in the second half we played really well. We gave them too much respect, but in the second half we managed to equalise and that means that we worked very hard.

When we got to the dressing room for half-time, the coach said we could do it and we managed to do it and claim a draw.

I feel very happy having him [Seydou Doumbia] on the pitch with me. After we scored the equalising goal we had more power to go for the win, but we just did not have enough time. We have got one point now, but we are going to [continue to] work very hard.

Joe Hart, City goalkeeper
It was a difficult game. We played well in the first half but in the second half we were too open. It was a fair result if I am being honest. We were poor in the second half.

It was very cold in the first half and the wind was difficult and made a big difference. I could not feel my hands in the second half, but this is not an excuse as it is the same for both sides and we did not play well enough.

It's going to be difficult but I think we are more than capable of qualifying from this group. We have got to concentrate on the return match against Moscow first and let the other two [ FC Bayern München and AS Roma] do what they need to do.

Vincent Kompany, City captain
It is always a matter of small margins in this competition. Obviously our first half was good and our second half was not good. Things went against us that for me influenced the game in a way that was difficult for us. But we will look at ourselves and we know we have to win and we know it has to be better.

We have to look at the collective now and I think as a team whatever we do next has to be better.