Ireland calls on City to be ‘braver’

Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland has demanded a “braver” showing from his teammates in their UEFA Cup quarter-final return following a 3-1 first-leg loss in Hamburg.

Ireland put City into an early lead but the Germans roared back with goals from Joris Mathijsen, Piotr Trochowski and Jose Pablo Guerrero.

“We’ve got more quality, but at home we need to show it and be braver,” Ireland told BBC Radio in demanding an improvement for the second leg at Eastlands on 16 April.

“I think at times some people were hiding and when we had our backs against the wall some people were not brave enough to come out and fight,” Ireland complained.

Coach Mark Hughes insists his men can still reach the last four.

“It will be difficult to claw back but we are not out of it. We have shown time and again we can score goals at Eastlands. We have players capable of causing Hamburg problems, as we showed,” Hughes maintained.