City dominated for much of the game - but Marten De Roon’s late equaliser cancelled out Sergio Aguero’s 150th goal for the club and saw the Teesiders leave with an unlikely draw.
Having dropped points in games against Everton and Southampton in recent weeks, Fernandinho, whose form this season has been superb, admits they need to find an extra gear at the Etihad if they want to win the Premier League.
“Our team played well, we dominated the game, especially in the first half,” he said. “They didn’t have any chances to get to the goal. In the second half the game changed and they began to press and they came back stronger and at the end we got punished with that goal. This is a lesson for us to learn and to avoid making this mistakes in the future.
“This is the third game we lose points at home and we are a team that wants to win the title, so we can’t afford to drop points at home.”
Middlesbrough arrived with a defensive gameplan, placing 10 men behind the ball for much of the game.
It’s a tactic City have faced numerous times this season, one that seeks to limit the attacking capabilities in Pep Guardiola’s side.
Fernandinho says it was the approach they expected and admits he thought they could have produced more in the final third to win the game.
“It always difficult when there are so many players inside of the box, we don’t have space and we don’t get the chance to kick, so sometimes the only way is to try from outside the box, I tried to do that but I was not in luck,” he said.
“We prepared ourselves for this game, we knew that Middlesbrough would come with a defensive strategy and we believed that we could have done a better game and guarantee the three points, but unfortunately we couldn’t do it.”
