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Roberto Mancini insists Manchester City's owners know Champions League success cannot be achieved overnight. Whether they will be quite so understanding about the plight City found themselves in here at Signal Iduna Park is another matter entirely.

Europa League football was scarcely at the top of Mancini's wish-list at the start of the season, but it has a better ring to it than being England's worst performers in any Champions League group. That's the unwanted distinction Mancini's misfiring side took away from Dortmund, as they failed to overhaul Ajax for third place in Group D and finished bottom. They mustered just three points, one fewer than Blackburn in a 1995-96 campaign infamous for an on-field punch-up between David Batty and Graeme Le Saux as much as a sorry return of one win and one draw. Real Madrid did their bit with a thumping win over Ajax in the Bernabeu, but City were incapable of helping themselves in a limp display enlivened only by Carlos Tevez's purposeful running.

Mancini maintained all along that a Europa League place would be pursued with vigour, but you would never have known it from a conspicuous lack of urgency, with possession seldom translated into even a hint of a goal. The lively Tevez wriggled clear of two challenges and fired a closerange shot against keeper Roman Weidenfeller in the 67th minute but by then City were behind. Though Dortmund goal threats had been sporadic in the first half, pressure had been steadily mounting prior to Julian Schieber's 57th-minute breakthrough. Ivan Perisic came close to one of the goals of the tournament in the 53rd minute, as he met a deep cross from Jakub Blaszczykowski with a left-foot volley that was tipped over by a startled Joe Hart. Hart went one better seconds later, reacting swiftly to get down at his near post and keep out a sharp shot on the turn from Kevin Grosskreutz.

It was a brilliant save by the England keeper, but there was nothing he could do about Schieber's close-range finish, after the impressive Blaszczykowski had picked him out with a low cross.

With the clean-through Schieber sending an attempted chip straight into Hart's hands, and Manchester United target Robert Lewandowski bringing the best out of Hart after going on as a 76th-minute substitute, Mancini could hardly complain about the outcome.

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The hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge has released private details about her condition to two prank callers from an Australian radio station. The King Edward VII Hospital in central London has launched an investigation into the extraordinary stunt by two Australians DJs. The two presenters pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles to obtain intimate medical information about pregnant Kate, who is suffering from acute morning sickness. The nurse who answered the call revealed that Kate, 30, ‘had a comfortable night’ and was about to get ‘freshened up’. She also revealed further details that MailOnline will not publish to protect the Duchess’s privacy.

Today the horrified hospital boss John Lofthouse confirmed his staff had passed on information about Kate, saying: 'This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore.' 

A hospital spokesman added: 'King Edward VII’s Hospital Sister Agnes can confirm that an Australian radio station made a hoax call to the hospital in the early hours of Tuesday morning. 'This call was transferred through to a ward and a short conversation was held with one of the nursing staff. King Edward VII’s Hospital deeply regrets this incident.' 

St James's Palace declined to comment. It is the second time since marrying Prince William that Kate has suffered a breach of privacy, following the publication of photographs of her sunbathing topless in France in September. In the outrageous stunt in the early hours of the morning, 2Day FM DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian joke about impersonating the Queen and Prince Charles before calling the hospital number.

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