Bacary Sagna believes Manchester City's defenders are suffering from communication problems.

The Premier League side came back to claim an astonishing 5-3 win over Monaco in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday, but France right-back Sagna conceded he could not be entirely satisfied, as Radamel Falcao netted either side of Kylian Mbappe capitalising on a static backline.

Pep Guardiola has employed a rotating cast in defence this season, with Sagna joining midfielder Fernandinho in being deployed across the back four, while left-back Aleksandar Kolarov has featured regularly at the heart of defence alongside John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi, as ongoing injury woes continue to shackle captain Vincent Kompany.

"I think we have to communicate a bit more because it's all about communication," former Arsenal player Sagna told reporters.

"We conceded three goals so of course I can't be pleased as a defender but we managed to react, keep going forward and we never gave up.

"As a defender I am always a bit sad whenever we concede goals – that's the only bad point. We need to remain compact and we need to communicate a bit more.

"On the pitch everything happens so quickly, and communication is the key. They managed to create some chances because we had a lack of communication. We have to improve.

"Monaco are a quality team, you saw how quick they are on the counter attack, we have to be solid and remain and stick together as a team."

Sagna ended the game against the Ligue 1 leaders at left-back after Zabaleta replaced Fernandinho with City 3-2 down.

He added: "It was a completely crazy game. We started really well, we managed to score first, we managed to play really well until we got caught on the counter-attack.

"We kept going because we are so determined to qualify. We still have a difficult team in front of us but we will never give up. We will never give up. We just have to push, keep going and keep believing."