Yaya Toure has apologised to the Manchester City faithful for his red card during his side’s defeat to CSKA Moscow.
Toure was the second City player to be sent off on a dismal night at the Ethiad, following Fernandinho’s earlier dismissal.
Toure had brought his side level thanks to a beautiful free kick but Seydou Doumba’s second goal earned CSKA all three points.
Toure tweeted: ‘City fans – I am sorry for my red card. I feel it is important to apologise for this.’
The 31-year-old midfielder had earlier tweeted: ‘GameDay… #Focused’.
City now sit at the bottom of their group and face an uphill task to make it to the knockout round.
The manager told Sky Sports 5: ‘It’s very difficult to understand why we played so badly.
‘From the beginning we were so nervous and we gave them the two goals. Really, we didn’t play.
‘The first half especially, we didn’t see the team we normally see. We didn’t shoot once at their goal, we just had Yaya’s free-kick, and we gave away two easy goals.
‘It’s a strange moment to understand why it happened. I don’t think it’s just this competition, the last two weeks we are not playing the way we normally do.
‘It’s a crisis of confidence, of course, I don’t understand why but we must find a reason, talk with the players every day and try to win again.’
Pellegrini would not be drawn on the two dismissals, saying simply: ‘It’s the referee that has to decide about that.’