Gael Clichy has said Manchester City have to "improve quickly" in the Champions League if they are to satisfy owner Sheikh Mansour.
City, who went out in the group stages in consecutive seasons under former manager Roberto Mancini, are facing the prospect of a second successive round of 16 exit after Tuesday's 2-1 home defeat to Barcelona.
Left-back Clichy, who was sent off at the Etihad Stadium, admits City need to reach the latter stages of the competition sooner rather than later.
"We are privileged to be in a club like this that wants to improve year after year, and to improve is to go further in the Champions League," Clichy told national newspapers.
"Twice in a row, we are playing Barcelona -- they are a big team and know how to play those kind of games.
"I think eventually we will get there. Those clubs have been built for several years, 20, 30, 40 years, and this is only the sixth season for us.
"That's no excuse. We have to improve. The owner wants [us] to improve quickly, so we have to improve quickly. If we play as we did in the second half, everything is possible."
City boss Manuel Pellegrini was hired partly because of his impressive record in the Champions League with Villarreal and Malaga, but was criticised for playing 4-4-2 against Barcelona and allowing Luis Enrique's side to dominate possession.
However, Clichy defended the Chilean, saying: "I [have] played Barcelona many times and even if you played five in the middle I can assure you that you always feel a player short because they know how to move, how to keep the ball.
"Even if you press well they manage to come out. It's nothing to do with the two strikers, or four in midfield, because I have played against Barcelona over six years and many times with four in midfield, five in midfield, and the striker coming back so it's like you have no striker up front. And you still feel that you are playing under numbers.
"I think the choice of the manager to go from the first minute with two strikers showed that we wanted to play offensively and score goals. We didn't, and we didn't start well. Their first goal we made the mistake of dropping but, other than this, in the second half we did well with the two strikers.
"We have to carry on like this because that is the way we want to play, the manager wants to play like this and that is the way we are going to win things."