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Champions League: James Milner feels Manchester City can 'go far' this season

James Milner
Image: James Milner: Hopeful Manchester City can 'go far' in Europe

James Milner feels Manchester City can go a long way in the Champions League after completing their Group E escape.

City beat Roma 2-0 in Italy on Wednesday to make it back-to-back European victories and squeeze into the last 16 along with group winners Bayern Munich, who they had beaten in Manchester last month,

Manuel Pellegrini's men overcame the absence of Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany and Milner feels there is enough quality in City's squad to make it tough for whoever they come up against in the first round of knockout matches.

Milner said: "We will take it step-by-step but I definitely think the quality is there to go far in this competition.

"We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but the more seasons we play in the Champions League, and the more games we play in it, the experience helps and we get better as a team.

"We started the season slowly and were a bit up and down. Our Champions League campaign didn't get off to the best of starts - the draw wasn't kind to us again, we didn't perform the way we can, and we put ourselves in a bit of a situation.

"We managed to get out of that situation and qualify, and that's the main thing. This club needs to be in the latter stages of the Champions League and we have managed to do it.

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"This team responds when we need to win games - we did it last year in the Premier League and now we have done it again in the Champions League, by winning these two.

"We had a bit of help from the other game, but to beat Bayern Munich and Roma to qualify, and do it with a number of injuries, shows the amount of quality there is right through the squad."

Watch the Champions League draw live on Sky Sports News HQ on Monday - coverage starts in a Morning View special at 10am.

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