Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini feels they've been forced to tackle this season's Champions League with one arm tied behind their back.
City has been hamstrung by Uefa restrictions on squad size and spending power due to the club breaching financial fair play regulations.
It led to Pellegrini allowing striker Alvaro Negredo out on loan to Valencia.
"We had a lot of restrictions, we cannot have more than 21 players in the Champions League squad. It is a lot of things but it is not my way to use all these things to excuse bad results. We have a squad, we have the reality of what happened this year and have to work that way."
