MIDDLESBROUGH -- Manchester City have kept a club record six clean sheets away from home and it's helping to build confidence throughout the team, according to defender Pablo Zabaleta.
City's defence came in for criticism during the first half of the season with manager Pep Guardiola under fire for his open style and asking his defenders to play out from the back.
But City kept their seventh clean sheet in 10 games on Saturday when they reached the semifinal of the FA Cup with a 2-0 victory at Middlesbrough.
Another blank -- or even conceding just one goal in the Champions League second leg against Monaco on Wednesday -- will see City into the quarterfinals following their 5-3 win in their first clash at the Etihad.
Zabaleta says the back four is feeling confident and doesn't expect Guardiola to change their style when they face the Ligue 1 leaders at the Stade Louis II Stadium.
"For defenders, [clean sheets are] good. It brings confidence," the Argentina international told reporters.
"We know in some period of the season we were conceding too much, so when you can have a clean sheet, we know we have quality enough to score goals and win matches and that is important.
"We know as defenders we're always trying to play from the back and it's a risk. Sometimes we can lose the ball and we are too open, but this is the way we like to play.
"We're not going to change, but then it is in those moments where you need to show the determination to win duels and as a defender you need that. At the end of the day, you have to be defensively strong enough to win those duels and [against Middlesbrough] we did."
Zabaleta knows the dangers posed by Monaco after they scored three times at the Etihad in the first leg thriller on Feb. 21.
An attacking threat of Kylian Mbappe, Radamel Falcao and Bernardo Silva is more than capable of overturning a two-goal deficit and Barcelona's incredible 6-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain shows City are far from certain of reaching the last eight.
And Zabaleta says they will need to be at their best if they are to join Barca, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, who are already through to the last eight.
"We want to keep progressing as a team and as a club. Last season we reached the Champions League semifinals and we want to be there with the best in Europe," the 32-year-old added.
"We know how tough it is. Look what happened with PSG and Barcelona. When you play at that level, you have to perform well enough to go through and, of course, to reach the final is one of the main targets for the club. But we're not thinking about the final now. We have to go game by game.
"We know Monaco are a really dangerous team. They have fast players. They scored three goals at the Etihad, that's why it's going to be hard.
"We know that we also have a great team, with great players to go through. We know we can have a great performance and go through."
