James Milner felt Manchester City were simply too sluggish to put Roma away at the Etihad last night.

The English champions took a fourth-minute lead against the Serie A giants after Maicon's foul led to a Sergio Aguero penalty.

But Roma levelled in the 23rd minute thanks to veteran Francesco Totti, who became the oldest ever player to score in the competition.

The 38-year-old's goal was enough to ensure a 1-1 draw in Champions League Group E and City midfielder Milner said he was frustrated by the slow play he witnessed across 90 minutes in Manchester.

"Maybe we could have won it but I don't think we played at our best," he admitted.

"We didn't have that much tempo in the game but we created a few chances and probably could have nicked it.

"We never got up to our speed. That's one of our strengths, when we get the ball moving quickly teams find it difficult to deal with.

"Well-organised teams come here and we know we have to move the ball quickly to get past them. They are an organised team so we didn't do enough to win the game."

Roma left-back Ashley Cole hailed his team's determination to recover from the early setback.

The former Chelsea defender said: "It was a good performance after going 1-0 down so early in the game and we showed a lot of character, determination and belief.

"The boys can be proud of themselves for going up against the champions, a great team.

"We came here to win. We're a bit disappointed we didn't win but it's a good point for us."

Chelsea captain John Terry was relieved after his side clung on for a Champions League win over Sporting Lisbon despite missing a host of chances.

Nemanja Matic's first-half header was the only goal, with the Londoners unable to kill the game off and were almost made to pay when Nani and Freddy Montero went close in a final 10 minutes dominated by the hosts.

Terry said: "They're a good side but it's been about 10 years since they've been in the Champions League so it was a big night for them.

"We had so many chances, it was one of those nights where it just didn't go but thankfully Mati came up with a good header."

It was Terry's 100th Champions League appearance and he said: "I'm very proud, there's not too many players to achieve that."

Nani, on loan at Sporting from Manchester United, said: "A few of our players were a bit nervous but in the second half we gave a very good response. Our team deserve congratulations for the performance in the second half."