City twice had the advantage against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie on Tuesday (11.02.25) but collapsed late on to lose 3-2 and the defender admits that the nature of the defeat was "hard to take".

Ake said: "Obviously the last five minutes or so when you're winning 2-1 to give it away like that is frustrating and hard to take.

"It's difficult to be honest. We're trying to find the reason why.

"There are little details that some games you can get away with but these kinds of games you won't get away with because they're a top team. The next one is coming thick and fast so we have to be ready."

Throwing away leads has been a recurring theme for City this season and Ake says it is a problem that must be addressed if the team are to get back to their best.

The Dutch international said: "It's happened a few times now this season and we haven't learned from it yet so we have to do that as soon as possible.

"Against these kinds of players you're going to concede chances. We know that they have top players upfront. Obviously we have to do better collectively as a team, as defenders. Most of the time we did well to keep them out.

"But at the end we're winning 2-1 and we gave it away. That's the main thing."

City now face an uphill task to turn the tie around in Madrid but Ake is confident that the team can keep their European hopes alive.

He said: "Of course, there's one goal in it.

"Today in some phases we showed what we can do, created good chances, played some good football. It's about little details and if we get that right hopefully we can go through."