Manuel Pellegrini has said that he believes Manchester City can progress to the knockout stage of the Champions League.

The club was grouped with reigning champions Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen when the draw for the group stage was made yesterday.

The manager told the team's website: "I think all are difficult groups, maybe some have more history in the Champions League than others, but all are difficult.

"We have a tough group, but I think we have a chance to go through to the round of 16 if we play well.

"It's one of our targets to qualify for the next round and I hope we can go further in the tournament this year."

City are in the competition for the third consecutive season, but are yet to get past the group stage.