Yaya Toure has said that it is vital for Manchester City to qualify from the Champions League group stage following last year's disappointing campaign.

The Citizens were defeated by Real Madrid in their opening fixture on Tuesday night, but the Ivory Coast midfielder believes that his teammates gave a good account of themselves at the Bernabeu.

Last year, Roberto Mancini's men were knocked out in the group stage, with Bayern Munich and Napoli instead reaching the knockout stages.

The Ivory Coast international said that City are still learning in Europe and has backed the squad to improve.

"I think we played well and we are continuing to learn how to play in Europe," said Toure. "We have a lot of young players and I think it is very good for us, although we lost.

"I think we have a couple of important games coming up and for us it is very important this year to go to the second round."

He added: "We have a fantastic squad and a fantastic manager, we have to continue working like that. In a couple of months I think we will be better."

Toure joined City from Barcelona in 2010.