Qualifying for the Champions League would be as good as winning the Premier League trophy for this season according to Matheus Nunes.

The 26-year-old netted a stoppage-time winner for City in their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa on Tuesday, which took them to third in the table and four points clear of sixth-placed Chelsea having played a game more.

Villa, meanwhile, remain seventh and trail the top five by two points following their defeat.

But with the season having not panned out as any had hoped at Manchester City, the Portuguese acknowledged that another year in Europe's premier competition would be of huge significance.

"This is our Premier League trophy now, to qualify for the Champions League," said Nunes. "I think it's massively important for us in terms of the club, the players and the mentality.

"I think we cannot describe how incredible it's going to be to be in the Champions League, because now we cannot fight for the Premier League trophy so that's our main aim."

City's four remaining league games come against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Southampton, Bournemouth and Fulham, while they also face Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-final.

But despite a potential positive end to the season, Nunes was adamant that a top-five spot and cup final would not represent success for Manchester City.

"I mean of course not. We know the club's standards are much higher than this," he said.

"We know that these are not the standards we want this club to be at, but this is our reality now and we have to accept it - and we just have to go for it like it's the Premier League trophy.

"This is a journey, it's a rollercoaster and you have to be prepared for it and of course they [team-mates] are, and we now have a different aim than we had in the beginning of the season.

"They know better than me how important it is to qualify for the Champions League and that has to be our goal now, and we're going to go for it."