Manuel Pellegrini: Manchester City boss admits to 'crisis of confidence'

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini said his side were suffering "a crisis of confidence" after their 2-1 home Champions League defeat by CSKA Moscow.

City could still be eliminated even if they win their final group games - against Bayern Munich and Roma.

Pellegrini will be without Fernandinho and Yaya Toure against Bayern after they were sent off in the second half.

"It is a crisis of confidence and we must find out why by talking to the players every day," said Pellegrini.

"We must try to find out what happens with this team in the Champions League. These players are important players so I don't understand why they cannot play in the Champions League.

"You can never imagine you are out when the maths says you are still in. We must try to work hard and get back to our normal style of play."

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany echoed his manager's sentiments on Twitter

Pellegrini refused to blame the performance of Greek referee Tasos Sidiropolous, who infuriated City by refusing late penalty appeals by Sergio Aguero, and also spared CSKA's Pontus Wernbloom - who had already been booked - a red card by mistakenly cautioning Sergei Ignashevich.

The Chilean said: "The difference was not just the referee. I don't want to have any excuses about the way we played. I don't want to link the referee with the result.

"The referee must decide if they are red cards or not red cards or whether it is a penalty or not. It is more important for me to analyse why we are not playing in the way we normally play."

Toure also seemed to accept the official's decision to issue him with a straight red card for a shove in the face of Roman Eremenko. The Ivorian said sorry to City's fans via his Twitter account, adding that it was "important to apologise".

City will be out before the final round of matches if they fail to beat Bayern and there is a winner in the match between CSKA and Roma.

Yaya Toure's red card was the first of his Manchester City career