Vincent Kompany hailed Sergio Aguero as Manchester City's "special player" after the Argentine's hat-trick earned a rousing 3-2 comeback win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday.
The victory resuscitated City's hopes of qualifying for the last 16 ahead of their final Group E match against AS Roma.
Should the Premier League champions win in Rome on Dec. 10 and CSKA Moscow fail to beat Bayern, Manuel Pellegrini's team will go through.
Aguero struck twice late on with clinical, unerring finishes having earlier given the hosts the lead with a first-half penalty.
Before his timely intervention Bayern seemed ready to send City's campaign plunging to a new low as their 10 men led 2-1 with five minutes remaining.
"If you want to succeed at anything you need to have a special player in special form," Belgium defender Kompany told ITV Sport. "Sergio Aguero is our special player and when he is in that form he makes things achievable.
"It was an awkward game. They were incredibly lethal and played well with 10 men but we did what we had to do and defeated a big team.
"What a game it will be against Roma," said Kompany. "We will take a lot of fans and the atmosphere will be incredible."
Pellegrini echoed his captain's sentiments and praised City's determination.
"I think all the big teams need big players, Sergio Aguero is a big player and very important," said the manager.
"The whole team played until the end, we conceded two unbelievable goals but our whole team kept working and concentrating."
The Chilean was coy when asked if their stunning late rally against the 2013 Champions League winners could prompt an upturn in their European fortunes.
"We'll see but we have to play another game. We had the obligation to win our two games and we have won our first one," said Pellegrini.
"We know we don't depend on only what we can do because if CSKA win in Germany they qualify for the next round but we have to do our duty and our duty is to beat Roma away."
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