Kevin De Bruyne has suggested that a second Champions League semi-final berth for Manchester City would confirm their status as one of Europe's elite clubs.
The Citizens reached the final four of the competition last season, falling to a 1-0 aggregate defeat against eventual champions Real Madrid, and are hoping to make inroads in this year's edition.
De Bruyne hit out at critics of the club who suggest that, because they have only been competing in the Champions League for a few seasons, they do not deserve the respect of more long-established teams like Manchester United and Liverpool.
Speaking ahead of Man City's last-16 tie against AS Monaco, the Belgian told the Manchester Evening News: "We have to do our job and win this round and stay in the Champions League. It is very important for people who have to evaluate us and criticise us to see we are going in the right direction.
"As players we don't really think about that but people who have to write about us, it is very different because we have not been here for a long time. The club took a different direction with the ownership but it is not going to be until we are two times in the semi-final that people will say that we do the same things as the best teams in Europe."
"You cannot compare us to (Man United and Liverpool) because we did not have the history in the Champions League. We need the same amount of time. For me, it means nothing, but for a lot of people in the world it means everything. That is why people are talking a bit less about us than the other teams."
Prior to the 2011-12 season, when they first played in the Champions League, the last time that Man City qualified for Europe's premier club competition was during the 1968-69 campaign.
Giuseppe Labellarte
