Bittersweet victory

Manchester City was booted from the Champions League on Wednesday despite its 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich.

David Silva put the English club ahead in the 37th minute with a low shot from the edge of the area, while Yaya Toure doubled the advantage seven minutes after halftime. Bayern had been weakened by a bout of flu that benched winger Arjen Robben and midfielder Toni Kroos.

"The club that was on the field today fought convincingly and gave it their all," Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes said. "But against an opponent like Manchester, it's always hard."

Manchester had to win the match against Bayern in order to have any chance of making it into the final 16 clubs who will face off for the knockout round. Although Manchester pulled off the much needed victory, the club's fate was ultimately sealed by Napoli's 2-0 win at Villarreal. The Italians will advance to the knockout round with 11 points at the expense of Manchester with 10 points.

Manchester will now have to settle instead for a place in the Europa League, while already qualified Bayern will move on to compete among the Champions League's final 16. The English club's manager, Roberto Mancini, said that Group A was "very strange" and "difficult" because "usually with 10 points all the teams go through always, 99 percent."

"We're very sorry for our supporters and I'm sorry for our players," Mancini said. "I think we need to improve as a team because we got a tough group this year."

Author: Spencer Kimball (AP, dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Andrew Bowen