Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini believes his side will be better for their loss to Bayern Munich in the Audi Cup final.
Alvaro Negredo opened the scoring for City on Thursday before Thomas Mueller and Mario Mandzukic hit back to guide Bayern to victory in the pre-season tournament.
Despite the loss, Pellegrini was pleased with how his team had been tested by Bayern and argued it will serve City well in the upcoming English Premier League season.
"I think this was a very useful match to prepare," the former Malaga head coach said after the game.
"We played a very good match against a strong team that won the UEFA Champions League last season, in their stadium.
"I am really glad how my team played and at this moment we have another 15 days to prepare for the Premier League, I think that we are in the correct way."
City have bowed at the group stages of the UEFA Champions League in the last two seasons but Pellegrini is confident the Premier League club will reach the knockout stages this year, based on their performance against the reigning champions.
"I know we must improve in the Champions League but I am sure that if we play the group stages in the way we did today we will have a lot of chances to continue in the Champions League," Pellegrini said.
"That's why it was so important today, the way we played.
We didn't start with our best team today, we put in a mixture yesterday and today and all the players have had their chances and for me to know more about their performance.
"I think this is very important for the next Champions League, what we did today."
Thursday's outing was another chance for some of Pellegini's signings to prove themselves against quality opposition and the new manager was pleased with what he saw.
"Well I think that (Alvaro) Negredo, (Jesus) Navas, and (Stevan) Jovetic have just arrived to our squad," the 59-year-old said.
"They will improve every week they play with us but as I said I am happy with not only the way they played but the whole team."
