Manuel Pellegrini defended his decision to select two strikers and only two central midfielders in the first leg of Manchester City's Champions League tie against Barcelona.

City lost 2-1 in a match dominated by Barcelona.

He said in a news conference: "I am very happy with the way we played [in the second half]. It was the way we must play against Barcelona. We demonstrated that in the second half with the same names. It was the way we must play from the first minute."

Pellegrini was critical of his side's defending for Luis Suarez's brace and of their performance for the remainder of the opening 45 minutes.

"We committed a very soft error for the first goal," he said. "Until the first goal, it was a very normal game and after that we conceded an easy goal and played very bad until the first half finished."