Raheem Sterling believes Manchester City's dramatic 3-2 Champions League win over Schalke highlighted where his side are heading this season.

Trailing 2-1 after a pair of penalties from Nabil Bentaleb cancelled out Sergio Aguero's opener, City were reduced to 10 men as Nicolas Otamendi saw red.

However, the Premier League champions struck late through a Leroy Sane free-kick and Sterling goal to grab a victory in Wednesday's last-16 first leg.

Sterling, whose team are in the hunt for four trophies this season, hailed City's ability to deliver despite being under pressure.

"We've been through some difficult patches this season, not every game is going to be great and 2-0 or 3-0," he told BT Sport.

"These are the games in the Champions League we know the opposition can hurt you at any point and we're going to be under pressure at times but we've got to stay with it.

"We did that brilliantly and showed what a great bunch of lads we are and what we're heading towards."

A 10-man City looked set for defeat until Sane's brilliant free-kick in the 85th minute, and Sterling's winner put them in control of the tie.

Sterling was satisfied with the win, saying: "It was a really tough game.

"I thought we made it difficult for ourselves at times. But at the same time we stuck together, even going down to 10 men, stuck with the gameplan and we're just happy to get a win in the end."