Vincent Kompany admitted he did not fully understand the new Champions League format after Bayern Munich's 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain boosted their hopes of progression.
Kim Min-jae's first-half strike was enough to guide Bayern past PSG, who had winger Ousmane Dembele sent off for two bookable offences early in the second half.
It was the Bundesliga leaders' third victory in five matches under the Champions League's new format, lifting them to 11th in the 36-team table with nine points.
They are one point away from the top eight, which brings automatic qualification for the last 16. Teams nine through 24 will take part in play-offs to join them in the new year.
"I don't look at the table because, honestly. I don't yet understand it," Kompany told a press conference. "It will look good if we win a few more matches.
"What's important is to reach our goal. If we win our remaining games we have a chance to make the top eight.
"I'm obviously happy. Our pressing in the first half was very good. The discipline was there. We could have scored perhaps one or two more goals, but the result is good.
"We are on the right track but working to become even better."
Bayern have now beaten PSG eight times in the Champions League, with only Real Madrid (11 versus Bayern) and the Bavarians themselves (10 against Barcelona) winning more games against a single opponent in the tournament's history.
They are also unbeaten in each of their last 33 home games in the Champions League's group stage (31 wins, two draws).
That is the joint-longest such run in the competition's history, with Barcelona also going 33 without defeat at home between November 2009 and November 2020.
They will have a chance to break that record when they host Slovan Bratislava on matchday eight, following trips to Shakhtar Donetsk and Feyenoord.
Bellingham willing to adapt to new Madrid position
Jude Bellingham feels he is most effective playing further forward but is prepared to accommodate his big-name Real Madrid team-mates by playing a withdrawn role.
Bellingham was a key player as Madrid won LaLiga and the Champions League last season, scoring 23 goals and providing 13 assists while playing predominantly as a false nine.
Following the exit of Karim Benzema, Madrid fielded Bellingham at the tip of a midfield diamond with Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior acting as split strikers.
However, Bellingham has dropped deeper this season following the arrival of Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain, playing just 3% of his minutes as a striker or attacking midfielder, with 50% coming in central midfield and 35% off the left flank.
In 2023-24, Bellingham played 69% of his minutes in the most advanced midfield role and 7% as a traditional striker.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash with Liverpool, Bellingham insisted he is happy to play any role if it contributes to positive results for Los Blancos.
"It's been like any other adaptation," Bellingham told reporters on Tuesday.
"It changes the dynamic, the style of play and the approach, but I've shown that I can play in different positions. I prefer a bit more up front, but it's not important to me.
"I'm willing to play wherever they put me and I'm not affected by the position. We always set the team up to win.
"I joined last summer and the club lost Benzema, one of its best players. There was a gap and it was a way to compensate for this lack of goals.
"This year we have signed one of the best players of this generation, who has scored an unbelievable amount of goals. My role is going to change and I'm totally willing to do that."
Bellingham's goal in Sunday's 3-0 win over Leganes in LaLiga was just his second in all competitions this season, though only Vinicius (six) has bettered his four assists for Madrid.
After travelling to Anfield for their fifth Champions League group-phase game, Madrid host Getafe in LaLiga this weekend.
Lewandowski delighted to join Ronaldo and Messi with Champions League ton
Robert Lewandowski was delighted to join Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as a Champions League centurion in Barcelona's 3-0 win over Brest.
Lewandowski scored twice either side of a Dani Olmo strike as Barca ran out 3-0 victors, leapfrogging the French side in the standings as they moved to 12 points from five games.
The Poland international is just the third player to score 100 goals in the Champions League, after Ronaldo (140) and Messi (129).
The Barca striker, however, took the fewest shots (451) to reach the milestone, with Messi needing 527 to get there, and Ronaldo 793.
Lewandowski netted 17 times in the competition for Borussia Dortmund, 69 times for Bayern Munich and now 15 times for the Blaugrana. Meanwhile, 22 of his Champions League goals have come under Hansi Flick.
"I'm very happy, very happy. 101 goals in the Champions League is great number," Lewandowski told Movistar Plus after the game.
"I didn't think I could score so many goals in the Champions League. To join Messi and Ronaldo... I guess they are good, right?"
In all competitions this season, Lewandowski has now scored 22 goals in 19 appearances – nine more than any other LaLiga player.
Indeed, he is only four goals shy of his final tally for last season (26 in 49 games).
Barca, meanwhile, are the fifth team to win four successive European Cup/Champions League matches by at least three goals, after Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 (five), Bayern in 2020 and 2021 (four on both occasions), Leeds United in 1969 (four) and Reims in 1958 (four).
Their victory came on the back of a disappointing pair of results in LaLiga, where a 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad and a 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo have allowed Real Madrid to cut their lead at the summit.
"We haven't been playing well in LaLiga lately, but we have a lot of games to play yet. We just have to be patient, we'll score more goals in the end," Lewandowski added.
"We're looking to win every game. If I can score goals to help the team, all the better. We have to win every game until the end of the season."
Head coach Flick heaped praise upon Lewandowski, also saying Barca deserved the three points after racking up 19 shots worth 2.86 expected goals (xG) while limiting Brest to two, worth 0.07 xG.
"Lewandowski is great, I'm delighted with his goals. I think Lewandowski knows he has to score and he is in the position to do it, but the important thing is what the team generates," Flick said.
"Obviously, he knows he has to score and he plays for it, but what this team does is just wonderful.
"I'm very happy. We deserved it, winning by three goals but we could have scored more, but I'm happy either way because delivering a performance like this after Vigo is just great."
Alonso full of praise for Wirtz after man-of-the-match performance against Salzburg
Bayer Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso was particularly pleased with the performance of Florian Wirtz during his side's 5-0 victory over RB Salzburg.
The Germany international scored two goals in the match and was named player of the match for the fourth time in five games in the Champions League this season.
The result and performance came at an opportune time for Leverkusen, who were off the back of a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool and 1-1 draw at Brest.
Following the win, they currently occupy fifth in the 36-team league, while Wirtz is equal-second in the top goalscorers with five goals.
"We want to help Florian Wirtz, we know how different he is for us. We have to find him at the right moments. We need to have a good structure to help him. This competition is for him, he is a Champions League player," Alonso told reporters.
"Hopefully we can go through to the next round. For Florian, he wants to have a big game. A big game is the best thing for him."
Alonso is hoping that his side can use the performance on Tuesday to pick up in the Bundesliga, where they are fourth despite having won just one of their last four matches.
Having won the domestic double last term though, he is aware there is still room for improvement in their performance.
"We did very well against Salzburg today. We want to build on that against Union [Berlin] on Saturday and maintain the level we have set ourselves," said Alonso.
"There are still ups and downs. We weren't great, but we weren't very bad. But I think there's still room for improvement. We can do better," he said.
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