Manchester City's Nathan Ake has issued a rallying cry to his team-mates, insisting they must "show character" to snap their winless run after a shocking 3-3 draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League at the Etihad.
Despite leading comfortably with two goals from Erling Haaland, including a penalty, and another from Ilkay Gundogan, City were left reeling as the Dutch side staged a remarkable comeback from 3-0 to 3-3 with late strikes from Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Gimenez, and David Hancko.
With City now six games without a win, Ake spoke to Amazon Prime about the need for resilience: "Maybe it is," he admitted when asked if the issue was mental. "It is difficult to say. Obviously we have not been in this situation many times but this is where we have to show our character.
"When everything seems to go against us and everyone is writing us off, we have to stay strong mentally, believe in ourselves and stick together.
"Every season there is a period when they write us off. We have to make sure we stay strong as a team and staff and make sure we get out of it."
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City's recent draw has left them in a precarious position, needing to rally for a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League. Currently languishing at 15th in the table, they are just two points shy of the top eight.
With critical matches against Juventus and Paris St Germain on the horizon, City must secure positive outcomes to maintain their qualification hopes. Their final group match is set against Club Brugge on January 29.
Despite halting a losing streak of five games across all competitions, Ake expressed his frustration after squandering a three-goal lead at home: "When you are three goals up it feels like a defeat when you give up three goals at home.
"It is tough now, a tough night, but the only thing we can do is look forward to the next one. Liverpool is a big game and it is another challenge to overcome.
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"(We were) 3-0 up and we played quite well and were under control, but then it all changed.
"You just have to stay strong mentally. At 3-1 they then push on but I think we need to go for it a bit earlier so we could keep the pressure on them, but we stayed playing at the back and maybe invited more pressure on us.
"Then when you concede the second one there is even more pressure and then we have to stay stronger mentally."
