Man City 1 Dortmund 1: We have to be happy with a point, admits Hart

Joe Hart admitted Manchester City had to be happy with a point after the Citizens came from behind to salvage a point against Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad Stadium.

Jürgen Klopp’s men regularly threatened Hart’s goal in a very open Group D encounter, with Mario Götze and Marco Reus both coming close in the first half, while David Sivla missed City’s best chance just before the interval.

The visitors finally made the breakthrough when Reus capitalised on Jack Rodwell’s wayward pass and finished past Hart to leave the Citizens on the brink of back-to-back defeats in the Champions League.

However, Mario Balotelli rescued a point when he scored a 89th-minute penalty after Neven Subotic was adjudged to have handled the box – and Hart, who faced 22 shots on his goal, was impressed by the German side.

“We’ve got to be happy with a point,” said Hart. “It could have been 10-10 today. I thought their keeper was fantastic and they had a lot of chances.

“We pushed hard and we wanted the point in the end. We needed that in the end and the group is still alive for us.”

He added: “Not off the top of my head [have I ever made that many saves in a City game]. Unfortunately I didn’t save all of their shots – I would have liked to.

“Borussia Dortmund were different class tonight. It took a good defensive effort to keep it to one. They were getting chances if it was four at the back, 10 at the back, or one at the back.”

Balotelli’s equalisers means City have a point from their opening two group games, and Hart is hoping the Italian striker’s effort proves vital in qualifying for the latter stages.

“I hope Mario’s goal is important and it wasn’t a wasted effort,” Hart added. “I hope the effort we’ve made in both games isn’t wasted and we can qualify from this group.

“But as you can see, for a fourth-seed team, it shows what a group we’re in.”