Ilkay Gundogan says Manchester City knew they had to score the first goal of the second half after falling behind against Borussia Dortmund.
City got off to a slow start in the second leg of their Champions League second leg quarter-final, conceding an early goal from Jude Bellingham that levelled the tie at 2-2 and put Dortmund ahead on away goals.
Yet two second-half goals secured City a 4-2 victory on aggregate and sent them through to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Speaking to BT Sport post-match, Gundogan said City's character was key to winning the tie after falling behind.
He said: "We are grateful for being in a great competition. Reaching the semi-final for the first time with this team. Obviously, we are very happy about it.
"Today was once again about showing character, we didn't play well the first 15 mins, we struggled, weren't brave enough, we were a bit scared to lose something, that was quite obvious.
"After conceding we got better into the game, more possession, keep the ball, created some good chances.
"Our target at half time was to come back and score the first goal in the second half and get the game back into our hands."
Gundogan believes that City have proven themselves up for the fight with the victory, which sets up an eagerly-anticipated semi-final with PSG.
He said: "We know how tough this competition is every year.
"The opponents are so difficult to play, this Borussia Dortmund team has a lot of quality. On a good day they can beat everyone, on the first half it looked like
"It's about staying in the game, attitude, personality, especially in that stage of the competition. We proved ourselves that we are ready to fight into the semi-finals."
