Full-back Maicon has insisted that Manchester City are keen to reach the knockout phase of this season's Europa League.

The Premier League champions will achieve that feat if they defeat Borussia Dortmund tomorrow evening and Ajax fail to win against Real Madrid in what is the final round of Champions League group matches.

Many pundits have recently questioned City's motivation towards the Europa League, particularly when they had been considered one of the favourites to win the Champions League.

However, former Brazil international Maicon has revealed that City are keen to win Europe's second competition.

"We are playing for pride, but also for practical reasons, because we want to carry on playing in Europe, even if it is not in the top competition," he said.

"The Europa League is important to us, so we need to try to stay in Europe until the end of the season if we can."

Maicon joined City in the summer from Inter Milan.