Boss reacts to UEFA Cup result

Mark
Hughes was satisfied with City's top place in UEFA Cup Group A, despite
Thursday night's defeat to Real Racing Club in Santander on Thursday
night.

The Blues lost 3-1 in northern Spain, but PSG's 4-0 win over
Twente saw City top the group and the Spanish team go out on goal
difference.

Speaking afterwards, Mark Hughes said: "The positive
is that we finished top of the group, which was the order of the day.
Ideally we would have done that by our own efforts, but as it is we
lost and topped the table a little bit by default. 

"It's the
first time we have lost away in Europe, there was more motivation for
the opposition - they had to win the game, we had already qualified and
that can take a little bit of the edge away from it. I think we saw
that at times, especially in the first half."

There were several changes to the starting XI from last Saturday's game, and of his changes the Manager added:

"We
had something like eight internationals out there, but I had reasons
for changing the side. We have to protect the likes of Stevie Ireland,
Shaun and Vincent Kompany because they have flown the flag for us all
season. It was important to allow them a bit of respite.

"Some
other players got some important game time with the Christmas
games coming up, Gelson played for the first time in a while and Felipe
had an impact. But, we would have preferred a performance we were
comfortable with. The main aim of the evening was to top the group,
which we did."