Yaya Toure has urged Manchester City not to get down after their defeat to Champions League opponents Real Madrid.

Ivory Coast midfielder Toure - who won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2009 - felt their effort was a huge improvement on last season's away performances.

He said: "It was not like group games I have played in before - it had the feel of a quarter-final or semi-final of the Champions League.

"And that's where we want to be, so it was a fantastic game for us to be part of. For us this was a good test to see what level we are at and to see where we want to go.

"This shows City are continuing to improve and continuing to learn in Europe. We still have a lot of games to get the points we need. It's really important that we do better than last year and get to the knockout stages.

"If we can it will prove we are developing as a European team."