The Blues boss could hardly contain his anger at the manner of his side’s last-gasp defeat at the City of Manchester Stadium to a Paul Scholes header deep into time addded on.
That setback was compounded by Tottenham’s 2-1 tea-time victory over Premier League leaders Chelsea, allowing Spurs to leapfrog the Blues into fourth place with just three weeks left.
Roberto declared: “I am sorry for the supporters over this, but at the end of the season I think we will have a good gift for them - because I think we will get fourth position.
“Yes, it is damaging. But I still think that we will get fourth position because we have four games and the crucial game will probably be against Tottenham here.
“We will keep trying - we have a good position and we now meet Arsenal, Tottenham and Aston Villa.
I think that we have a good chance. I still believe we will get fourth place
Mancini now needs to prepare his team for the toughest remaining game, Saturday’s trip to the Emirates to face an Arsenal side out to avenge their controversial 4-2 defeat in September.
He said: “Yes, they will need picking up, because they all gave 200 per cent but we lost in the last seconds - we didn’t have another ten minutes to score a goal.”
