London, Jan 24 : Manchester City’s new boss Roberto Mancini has admitted that he felt sorry for his predecessor Mark Hughes after his sacking the club, but insists he did not stab him in the back.

The Italian claimed he himself was the victim of a massive injustice when Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan replaced him after winning the Serie A title three years in a row.

Hughes had City in sixth place when he was sacked last month.

Mancini has since guided the team closer to the top four and has overseen the win over bitter rivals Manchester United in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final, News of the World reports.

“Of course I feel sorry for Mark. He is a very good coach who did well here at City. But this is part of our job and I''m sure he knows that. I haven’t done anything wrong. I was called by some Manchester City directors and they offered me the job.

“I’m a professional coach and I said yes. Everybody would have done the same in my shoes. It’s not difficult to imagine Mark’s feeling because it’s something I experienced when I was sacked after winning the third Scudetto in a row for Inter. It’s a bitter feeling but you have to move on,” Mancini said.

Mancini believes one of his first tasks has been to improve the team spirit of the most expensively assembled squad in the Premier League.

The former Italy international added: “We have many good and talented players in the squad but we need to improve our team spirit. At the moment the squad is too big. It becomes difficult to work with more than 24 players when you don’t play in Europe.” (ANI)