Match report
FULL TIME: Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-1 Manchester City
And that’s that! City qualify in second place behind Barcelona. Gladbach are guaranteed a spot in the Europa League. And Celtic are out of Europe. Oh Brendan! This wasn’t much of a match, truth be told, but City won’t care: they can now spend the next three months concentrating on domestic matters!
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90 min +1: With Barcelona beating Celtic, and this game level, Gladbach are sure of Europa League football. So City are able to hold possession in the middle, and the pragmatic hosts are happy to let them do it. This is like watching West Germany versus Austria in 1982, albeit without too much scandal.
90 min: There will be two additional minutes.
88 min: City continue to fiddle around in the middle, letting the clock do its thing. They’re within touching distance of the knockout stages.
86 min: Aguero flicks a clever pass down the inside-left channel, between a couple of black-and-green shirts, to release Silva into the area. Silva lashes into the net, but that’s City’s second disallowed goal of the evening. Offside again, and once more it’s the correct decision.
85 min: Kolarov works and works to earn a corner on the left. Silva takes. Otamendi rises, just to the left of the penalty spot, and sends a free header wide left. He should have at least got that on target.
84 min: Gladbach make their last change of the evening, swapping their goalscorer Raffael for German international Andre Hahn.
82 min: City are more than happy to knock it around the middle right now. Going nowhere, but that’s all right, the clock is their friend.
80 min: A rare attack by Gladbach. Hoffman opens his legs down the right, but with Johnson hovering in the middle, loops a wild one straight through the area. City are looking pretty comfortable right now, knowing they’re through to the next round as things stand.
79 min: Navas slips Sagna into space down the right. Sagna earns a corner kick. After some intricate triangles, Navas finds himself on the by-line, just to the right of the goal. He skelps a vicious shot-cum-cross straight at Sommer, who does well to parry up and away from his own goal. That was hit so hard, it could have gone anywhere.
77 min: City ping it around some more. Gladbach sit back. Suddenly De Bruyne breaks free down the left and earns a corner. Vestergaard clears with a header that reaches the halfway line.
74 min: City, having had their collective bubble deflated in the wake of Fernandinho’s needless dismissal, regroup and pin the hosts back. Low crosses are fizzed into the area from both wings, but each time a black shirt is first to the party and hacks clear.
72 min: Raffael is really trying it on now. He blocks a Kolarov cross with his arms up. A free kick, which leads to nothing, but that’s not really the point: it was a deliberate hand ball, and he really should be walking by now.
71 min: Now Raffael is booked for a very agricultural slide on Gundogan. A case for a red card there, as he went in studs up and, for a split second, had two feet off the ground. It looked more clumsy than malicious, but again, the letter of the law...
69 min: Hofmann makes good down the right and reaches the by-line. He cuts back for Johnson, bombing in down the channel. Johnson can’t connect, and City clear. Sagna romps down the right, and is scythed to the ground by a ludicrously late challenge from Jantschke. A yellow card, all day long.
68 min: City react to their red card by sacrificing Sterling for Sagna.
67 min: De Bruyne, 30 yards out and cutting in from the left, drops a shoulder to make some space and unleashes a superlative riser towards the top right. It’s in all the way, but Sommer tips it over the bar. What a shot! And a stunning save! The corner comes to nothing.
65 min: And with the crowd having found their voice again, Raffael picks up possession on the edge of the City D and sends a no-backlift shot trundling towards the bottom left. It’s just wide of the post. Not 100 percent sure Bravo was getting across to that. The home side are renewed.
RED CARD! Fernandinho (Manchester City)
63 min: This is beyond stupid. Fernandinho, on a booking, lightly tugs at the back of Strobl’s shirt in the centre circle. It’s not much of a foul, hardly a tug even, but by the letter of the law and all that. Why take the risk when you’re on a booking, and a man up? And now it’s ten versus ten.
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62 min: De Bruyne battles and bustles down the left, and very nearly breaks clear into the Gladbach area. Strobl stands his ground and eventually wins a free kick. Cue ironic cheers from the home faithful, who are still sore about the departure of their captain.
60 min: Dahoud is replaced by Vestergaard, who slots in at the back. Jantschke moves forward to take up the departing midfielder’s position.
59 min: This is attack versus defence. Gladbach can’t get hold of the ball at all. Navas slides De Bruyne into space down the right. De Bruyne reaches the by-line and looks for a friendly orange-and-purple shirt in the middle. His shot-cum-cross is snaffled by Sommer at the near post.
57 min: City are all over Gladbach now. Sterling is seeing a lot of the ball on the right. He floats one to the far post, but Aguero is never getting there, and Sommer plucks from the sky.
55 min: City possession, whistles, Otamendi being given pelters, etc.
53 min: City stroke it around the middle of the park awhile, just because they can now. The home support are whistling quite a lot, especially when Otamendi receives the ball.
RED CARD! Stindl (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
51 min: The Gladbach captain is sent packing for a second yellow, picked up after he cynically bodychecks Otamendi! A difficult evening for City has suddenly become a whole lot easier.
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50 min: De Bruyne enters the box on the right. A chance to shoot, but he doesn’t take it. A fresh-air swipe. Then he has another go, but only manages to screw the ball to his left, where Sterling is free! Sterling sidefoots home with power, but the flag goes up for offside. The correct decision.
49 min: From the free kick, 40 yards down the inside-right channel, De Bryune floats a ball to the far post, where Stones really should go for goal from close range. But he opts to head back across goal instead. Sommer claims, and is barged by Fernandinho as he leaps. The pair square up but calm down soon enough.
48 min: Gladbach have barely touched the ball in this first half. Eventually all the City possession gets the better of Dahoud, who tugs at Nevas’s arm and is booked for his trouble.
And we're off again!
In the tunnel, before the teams emerge, Pep Guardiola takes a few seconds to drum a few extra words of beneficial advice into his defence. You can’t blame him for taking every opportunity to cram in a little more tuition during the break: on the evidence of the first half, fifteen hours wouldn’t have been long enough, never mind 15 minutes. City go immediately on the attack, Gundogan making good down the left but ballooning his cross into the stand behind the goal with the box loaded.
Half-time reading: Some hot Champions League chat on why Tottenham Hotspur failed to make it out of their group.
HALF TIME: Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-1 Manchester City
And that’s that for the first half! It’s fair to say City are a little lucky to be level, given the way they’ve defended at times. But a moment of sheer quality has put a different sheen on this game at the break. The home side will be livid with themselves for easing off before the half-time whistle. Pep’s now got a chance to knock some sense into his defenders. Should be a cracker of a second half. Don’t go anywhere, now.
GOAL! Gladbach 1-1 City (Silva 45+1)
No matter! City equalise in their very next attack, and with the last kick of the half! Gundogan finds Sterling with a clever pass down the right channel. Sterling helps it on to De Bruyne, who bursts towards the by-line before firing a low cross inside. Silva, on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box, pokes home! What a wonderful, crisp passing move!
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45 min: City should be level! De Bruyne scoops a gorgeous pass down the inside-right channel to spring Sterling into the area. Shades of offside possibly? Maybe, maybe not. But perhaps there’s a little doubt in Sterling’s mind, because instead of battering a shot goalward, he checks. He cuts inside for Aguero instead. The striker looks for the bottom right, but his shot is smothered by Sommer.
44 min: Fernandinho is booked for a foul on Dahoud in the centre circle, as Gladbach once again prepare to launch a sortie downfield.
42 min: Stindl is everywhere right now. He’s set along the right wing by Raffael. He nears the by-line, then cuts back to Dahoud, just to the right of the City D. Dahoud puts his foot through the ball, but sends his shot miles over the bar. City could do with hearing the half-time whistle here. They’re not being over-run as such, but every time Gladbach launch an attack, they’re finding all sorts of holes in the City back line.
41 min: Traore has picked up an injury. He makes way for Jonas Hofmann.
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38 min: Strobl channels his inner Beckenbauer and embarks on a power sashay down the middle. Sterling gives up chasing him after a while. Strobl lays off to Stindl on the right. Stindl enters the box, but can’t a shot away. But Gladbach come back at City not once but twice, both times down the inside-right channel. Shots first from Elvedi, then Wendt, and City are looking very tatty at the back here. Wendt was presented with his chance after Bravo rolled the ball out into no-man’s land, allowing the full back to pick up possession and break into the box! What an absurd decision! They get away with this little episode, but they surely can’t keep carrying on like this.
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37 min: City stroke it around the back a lot. They’re not really going anywhere right now.
35 min: The ball breaks to Gundogan on the left-hand edge of the Gladbach D. He chests down and threads a delightful low shot towards the bottom left. It’s in all the way, but Sommer gets down quickly to tip the ball round the left-hand post. What a shot! And what a save! The corner leads to another corner, which leads to nothing.
34 min: Sterling enters the Gladbach box down the right, and his shot-cum-cross is deflected out for a corner on the same side of the pitch. From which...
32 min: Now Aguero is penalised for wrestling with Elvedi as the pair contest a long pass down the City left. That’s another free kick against the busy forward, who looks extremely frustrated right now.
30 min: De Bruyne trots down the right and rolls a pass into the centre, where Aguero tussles with Jantschke before breaking into the box. But the play’s pulled back for an illegal tug. The City striker isn’t happy with that decision, given it was a bit of a 50-50 grapple. But free kick to the home team it is.
27 min: Stindl makes good down the right and chips into the centre. Kolarov is forced to head behind, to the left of goal, for a corner. From the set piece, the ball’s worked to Strobl, on the left-hand edge of the area. Strobl sends a belter goalwards, but it’s blocked by Kolarov. Gladbach claim handball, and it did indeed hit Kolarov’s mitt, but no way is it a penalty: the players were close together, and Kolarov had no time to react, making no movement towards the ball. They’re never getting that.
26 min: City respond with a little bit of possession. Navas hares down the right and whips a fine cross into the middle. But Aguero is back on his heels, and nowhere near meeting the ball.
GOAL! Gladbach 1-0 City (Raffael 23)
And here we go. Stindl robs Stones out on the left, pushing him out of the road with ease. He strides towards the City box and cuts the ball back slightly towards Raffael, who batters a shot into the right-hand portion of the net. That’s not into the top corner, but it was hit with such power that Bravo had little chance to stop it.
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22 min: And here’s another big gap, as Stindl kills a long upfield hoof with one touch. Suddenaly he’s one on one with Otamendi. He doesn’t back himself to beat his man, though, and eventually he’s crowded out of it. But still.
21 min: Elvedi, tight on the right touchline, romps inside after nutmegging Stones with some ease. The ball’s laid off for Traore, who tries to release Johnson into the City box with a diagonal wedge, but there’s too much on the pass and Bravo comes across to claim. I’m not sure about this City back line at all.
20 min: The Gladbach captain Stindl is booked for a monumentally stupid and pointless clip on De Bruyne’s heels in the centre circle.
19 min: Silva flicks daintily outside to release Navas down the right. But Navas sprints in a straight line, directly into trouble, and an opportunity to turn Gladbach around is gone.
17 min: Silva finds space down the right and slides a diagonal pass inside for Aguero, who would be free in the area had he not lost his footing. A proper banana-skin style slapstick slip - all that was missing was a swannee whistle - and a very dangerous attack is kaput.
15 min: More City possession. It’s all a little sterile at the moment, but it’s doing the job of quietening the crowd a tad.
13 min: A bit of City possession in front of the Gladbach area. De Bruyne seeing a lot of the ball. He nearly sets Sterling away into the area down the left, but not quite. “Pep is right,” opines Dylan Drummond. “Pre-match interviews are even more predictable and pointless than most post-match interviews. Wee Gordon Strachan proved this back in the day by sometimes giving the ‘wrong’ answers to the questions.”
11 min: Traore earns a bit of space down the left and swings a cross into the City box, but there’s nobody in black making a run. Not too much going on in the middle third right now, which is exactly as we like it.
9 min: Another corner for City down the right. They load the box. Silva takes. Sommer comes off his line and gives the ball a good old-fashioned two-handed European punch upfield. This is a nice, open game, and there is no way - no way, I tells ya! - this is ending 0-0.
7 min: Raffael drops deep and wins a ball in the centre circle. City are light at the back, and he drives towards the box before slipping a pass down the inside-right channel for Johnson, who reaches the edge of the area and looks for the bottom left. There’s not enough pace on the shot, and Bravo snaffles. Huge gaping holes in the City defence there. An earlier ball from Raffael to Johnson, and there could have been serious problems.
5 min: The first attack launched by the home side. Dahoud, Stindl, Raffael and Johnson ping it down the left flank in pretty triangles. Dahoud eventually tries to up the pace by bursting inside, and laying off for Stindl, who has tagged along with him. From the edge of the City D, Stindl scrapes a weak effort straight at Bravo, who could have thrown his cap on it.
4 min: The set piece is whipped into the box, and Fernandinho is allowed a free header from ten yards. He sends it sailing miles over the bar, which is a poor effort. An early half chance.
3 min: City keep hold of the ball quite a lot. They’re happy to stroke it around, everyone getting a touch. Navas takes a stride down the right and fizzes a low cross into the Gladbach area. It’s hacked behind for a corner on the right.
And we're off!
City get the ball rolling. A mighty fine atmosphere in Borussia-Park. The visitors stroke it around the back a bit. It is indeed three at the back for City, with Fernandinho in midfield.
Here come the teams! Gladbach are in their black shirts with green horizontal flashes. City are in their classic orange-dissolving-into-purple tops. It’s aesthetic! The City fans give the official Uefa Champions League anthem the high hat, as is their wont, and indeed their right. Snooks having been comprehensively cocked, we’ll be off in a minute!
Pep Guardiola answers the big pre-match questions! Will you try to repeat the 4-0 victory over these opponents in Manchester? “Every day is a new day. The day we won at the Ethiad against Gladbach, if we had to play the day after, it would have been a new game. So. Every game is completely different. But we will try to play good.” How are you lining up at the back? “We will play four, sometimes three at the back. Depends how well it goes.” How important is it to qualify tonight? “We have to try to take our first chance to qualify, so we can concentrate on the Premier League.” And with that he was off. Each and every question was answered after a long pause and slight sigh, and with marvellous, frankly understandable, disdain. He really cannot be bothered one iota with the preposterous dance of the press conference, or the demand for platitudes to keep the media happy. It’s wonderful to watch.
The hosts Gladbach meanwhile make two swaps from the side which lost 2-1 at home to Cologne four days ago. Tony Jantschke and Fabian Johnson replace Jannik Vestergaard and Thorgan Hazard, the latter missing out for “personal reasons”.
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Pep Guardiola makes four changes to the XI that started the win at Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon. John Stones joins a back line that no longer features the injured Vincent Kompany or the benched Bacary Sagna. Fernandinho drops back to assist Stones in the centre of defence; Ilkay Gundogan takes up his position in midfield. Nolito and Yaya Toure also make way; Jesus Navas and David Silva take their places.
Tonight's teams
Borussia Mönchengladbach: Sommer, Elvedi, Christensen, Jantschke, Wendt, Dahoud, Strobl, Traore, Stindl, Johnson, Raffael.
Subs: Sippel, Vestergaard, Schulz, Benes, Hofmann, Hahn, Rutten.
Manchester City: Bravo, Otamendi, Fernandinho, Stones, Kolarov, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Silva, Jesus Navas, Aguero, Sterling.
Subs: Caballero, Sagna, Fernando, Nolito, Sane, Clichy, Iheanacho.
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).
♫ ♯ Une grande réunion! Eine grosse sportliche Veranstaltung! The main event! ♯ ♫
This was the fixture that kick-started Manchester City’s run to the semi-finals last season. Having lost their opening group match to Juventus, the old insecurities looked to be kicking in again, and Manuel Pellegrini’s team were desperate for a result at Borussia-Park. They got it, Sergio Aguero converting a last-minute penalty kick for a 2-1 win that could have been 5-0, 0-5 or anything in between. It was an absolute cracker of a match, 90 minutes plus of end-to-end lunacy. Anything vaguely similar this evening and we’ll be in for a treat.
City aren’t in quite so much jeopardy this time, though. Pep Guardiola’s side are coming off the back of a thrilling 3-1 home victory over Barcelona, and if they beat Borussia Mönchengladbach tonight, they’ll qualify for the knockout stages of this year’s competition. A draw will likely be enough, unless tonight at Parkhead Celtic manage to avenge the recent 7-0 spanking Barcelona handed them. Gladbach meanwhile must win, or draw and hope Celtic beat Barcelona, to retain any hope of staying alive in this tournament. A draw would at least secure third place and Europa League football for the Germans should Celtic lose to Barcelona.
Plenty for City to be excited about, then. Not least because they’re the form horse, going well in Europe and in the Premier League. Gladbach by contrast beat Young Boys of Berne 6-1 at Borussia-Park in the qualifiers, but since then have failed to win a home fixture in Europe, losing 2-1 to Barcelona and drawing 1-1 with Celtic. On both occasions, they gave up a half-time lead. André Schubert’s side are also struggling in the Bundesliga: they’re on a run of six without a win, having scored just the one goal along the way, and are scrabbling around in the lower reaches. They’ll look for succour in a decent home record against English opposition: W4 D1 L1. It’s on!
Kick off: 8.45pm in Mönchengladbach, 7.45pm back home in Manchester.
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