MADRID: Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart fumed "it's not on" for them to lose 3-2 to Real Madrid after taking the lead in their Champions League Group D thriller with only five minutes to go at Santiago Bernabeu this morning.

After failing to win in their opening two games of last season's competition before eventually being knocked out at the group stage, City were aiming to make a positive start this time around in what many have hailed as the toughest group in the competition.

Real dominated the first half with Hart making a string of impressive saves.

However, the visitors twice took the lead in the second-half through goals from Edin Dzeko and Alexander Kolarov just five minutes from the end.

But late strikes from Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo completed a remarkable turnaround which Hart deemed unacceptable.

"It's not on. You can't go 2-1 up with five minutes left to go and lose the game - it's not on. Who else can we blame? We can only blame ourselves," Hart told ITV Sport.

"They're a very good team but so are we. We can't go 2-1 up and lose.

"You come to the Bernabeu and it's a great stadium, amazing manager, amazing players and we dug deep, we got a lead twice and we lost it so we can only blame ourselves."

Hart, noticeably angry with the result, was also unwilling to take positives from the game in the immediate aftermath, placing an importance on the outcome of the match rather than the team's performance.

"It's hard to come off the field after losing 3-2 and be positive. I'm really sorry and I know you don't want to hear that," said the England international.

"I'm sure in the coming days when we reflect we can see the good things that we've done but at the end of the day we've lost the game.

"We're not a team that should come here and pat ourselves on the back for doing well, we're a team that gets results."

- mD