Sergio Aguero came off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner for the Citizens, after the plucky Robins had taken a shock half-time lead thanks to Bobby Reid’s 44th minute spotkick.

Wright played a full game in the gallant defeat, which gives the Mancunians a slight advantage ahead of the second leg in Bristol on January 23.

City, who are currently fourth in the Championship, have previously knocked out Premier League quartet Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Watford and Stoke City on their way to the final four.

Wright insisted the Robins can topple City in a fortnight, buoyed by their first leg display.

“We’ve always had belief,” Wright said.

“We’ve knocked out four good sides already to get to this stage. If that doesn’t give you belief, I don’t know what does.

“After that performance, we’ll have more belief.

“The lads have been superb and dug in and given it everything.

“We’re still in this. We know we’ve got a great chance to progress, it’s going to be hard but it’s been hard to get here. It’s what we enjoy.”

City captain Wright has enjoyed a strong 2017-18 season with City, making 23 league appearances as they’ve pushed for promotion, along with three cup appearances in their superb run to the semis.

He relished the experience of playing against the Premier League leaders, where he faced off against superstars such as Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane.

“I think conceding late on puts a dampener on the performance,” he said.

Wright came up against De Bruyne

“We’ll analyse it. I think we were very good tonight. They’re a world class team.

“At times we looked very dangerous. We took the game to them. I thought we might have done enough.

“At the end we switched off a bit and it cost us a goal.

“The positive is it’s the halfway mark for us.

“We’ll take a lot of confidence from that and look forward to the next tie.”