Sid Lowe's report on Real Madrid win over Atalanta
Read Jamie Jackson's match report
Guardiola's reaction
“It was a good performance. We had control for 90 minutes. We were serious and after the two magnificent goals, everything was easier ... I’m delighted to be in the next stage.”
On the 706 minutes without conceding a goal. “We cannot deny that Ruben and John have made an incredible step forward for the team. And Kyle is back again. But everyone runs a lot, the strikers and everybody in the middle. And we defend in the ball, that is the most important thing. But we cannot deny that when [the opposition] arrive with the ball, we are solid enough.”
De Bruyne's reaction
“I think the start obviously helped a lot. We were patient in the beginning and when we scored the two goals it gave us a little bit of a cover... We controlled the game and had a few chances in the second half. That half was a little bit less but that’s understandable with all the game we’ve played.
On the latest clean sheet, he says: “It’s always important when you’re stable as a defence and a team. It gives the whole team confidence. And it’s really nice for Ederson and the defenders.”
Full-time: City 2-0 Gladbach (agg: 4-0)
That was elementary for City. They stroll into Friday’s quarter-final draw thanks to two brilliant goals, another clean sheet and a very authoritative display. There’ll be tougher tests ahead, hopefully. But the quadruple is on.
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90 min: There will be at least two more pointless minutes.
89 min: Mahrez misfires again, wafting a shot wide from 12 yards after being served by De Bruyne.
Gladbach substitutions: Wendt and Jantschke on, Elvedi and Bensebaini off
86 min: Foden wins a corner for City down the left. Then he takes it, but it’s headed to safety. Aguero, by the way, has barely been involved since his introduction a few minutes ago. The false nine seems to suit City better at the moment.
84 min: Gladbach produce their best move of the match to sweep from the edge of their own area into the City box. But the finish was not up to the quality of the build-up, as Traore shanked his effort way wide from 12 yards after being slipped in by Plea.
81 min: This second half has been a non-event, truth be told. Gladbach have tried but just haven’t been good enough to knock City out of their stride. So Guardiola will be irritated with Fernandinho for getting a daft yellow card just now for booting the ball away after the whistle had gone for a freekick.
Gladbach substitution: Traoré on, Stindl off.
77 min: Stones heads a cross from the right by Lainer out to the edge of the box. Wolf seizes on it and wallops a rising shot a yard over the bar.
75 min: Sterling loses his balance in the box as he tries to collect a pass from De Bruyne. If his first touch had been better, Sterling would have had an excellent change to score.
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City substitution: Aguero on, Silva off.
73 min: A lovely, intricate move by City, involving De Bruyne, Foden, Sterling and more. But Sterling strays marginally offside at the end.
City substitutions: Sterling and Laporte on, Gundogan and Dias off.
68 min: Mahrez take a corner short to Foden, who tricks his way past a defender superbly and then lays it back to Mahrez, who’s moving into the box from the right. But his shot is weak, allowing the keeper to bat it away.
67 min: Good defending by Zakaria, who brings an end to a flowing City move by whacking the ball downfield after Silva is eventually dispossessed in the box.
66 min: Fernandinho burst through midfield to launch another attack. Mahrez then has a pop from 20 yards.
Gladbach substitutions: Wolf and Plea on, Embolo and Thuram off.
64 min: Stones wins the ball off Embolo with a perfect sliding tackle.
City substitutions: Fernandinho and Zinchenko on, Rodri and Cancelo off.
62 min: De Bruyne curls in a freekick from out on the left touchline. Sommer beats Stones to it and clutches it safely in his hands.
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60 min: In addition to City’s intricate play, Ederson’s long bombs from the back have offered another, faster route forward. His latest effort is headed away by a defender but only as far as De Bruyne, who lets fly from long range.
56 min: Gladbach, though outclassed, have not given up. They pester City into conceding a corner. And the setpiece causes problems, as Thuram knocks it down for Bensebaini, who spins at the edge of the six yard area ... and shoots wide. And it wouldn’t have counted anyway, as the whistle had gone for a free out.
55 min: A blemish on City’s day, as Cancelo is shown a yellow card for raising his foot a tad too high as he slid in to win the ball near half-way, which he did.
54 min: Lainer gets his nut in the way of a dainty cross from the right by Mahrez.
52 min: Gladbach ty to reacquaint themselves with the ball for a bit. But City aren’t inclined to let them fulfil even that modest ambition.
49 min: Ederson ends a pass long into the Gladbach half. It’s headed away but Gundogan picks it up and threads a ball through to Mahrez. The Algerian wraps his foot around he ball and tries to curl a low shot into the net from the edge of the box. But it doesn’t curl enough and drifts a couple of yards wide of the near post.
47 min: Rodri powers into the Gladbach has before being shunted over, giving De Bruyne a freekick. He lofts it into the box but it’s headed clear by a Gladbach defender, the first player on his team to touch the ball in the second half.
46 min: No personnel changes during the break.
Half-time: City 2-0 Gladbach (agg: 4-0)
This is a mis-match.
44 min: City’s hunger is clear to see. Despite being four goals to the good, they continue to press their opponents very high, eager to regain possession and resume attacking.
42 min: De Bruyne mislays a cross, to the angst of Gundogan, who was well placed to turn it into the net.
41 min: Determined and nimble work by Thurams, to wriggle btween three City player and slip a cute ball to Embolo. The striker fires a low shot across goal as Stones closes in to challenge, and it flashes just wide of the far post.
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39 min: The first sign of sloppiness from City, as Rodri attempts to pick out a teammate on the left but boots the ball straight out of play. Have they peaked?
38 min: City probe. Gladbach scramble. Repeat x 10.
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35 min: De Bruyne sends a swirling, dipping freekick over the wall and towards the centre of the goal. Sommer tips it over the bar. De Bruyne is great, but he’s no Juninho Pernambucano.
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35 min: Stindl clonks into Silva, giving City a promising freekick, about 10 yards outside the D and almost dead centre. De Bruyne, Silva and Mahrez debate their options ...
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32 min: This time Gladbach manage to pick a way through City, but Thuram has to rusk his shot from the left-hand corner of the box. He curls it on to the target but it’s a simple save for Ederson.
31 min: Gladbach do well to play their way out of their own third under intense pressure, but Gundogan relieves them of the ball as soon as they threaten to break into the City half.
29 min: Nice footwork by Cancelo to create room for a cross, then he bangs it into the area from the left. De Bruyne can’t quite get on the end of it.
26 min: Sommer tries to impersonate Ederson but his pass goes awry, gifting the ball to City in midfield. They work it to Mahrez, who dinks the ball over to Gundogan, making yet another run from deep into the danger zone. But this time his fails to get a sure touch, and Sommer intervenes.
25 min: Guardiola is all smiles on the sideline, practically cooing at his team’s performance so far.
22 min: This seems a good moment to mention that City share the record for the biggest one in the last 16 of the Champions League thanks to their 7-0 victory over another German team, Schalke, in 2019. In fairness to Germany, Bayern Munich have done it twice, thrashing Shakhtar by the same score in 2015, three years after giving Basel the same treatment. if City feel like it, they could probably break new ground today.
GOAL! City 2-0 Gladbach (Gundogan 18) (agg: 4-0)
Another thing of beauty! Foden twirled away from one man in midfield and then glided forward before slipping an artful pass over to Gundogan, bursting into the box on the right. Gundogan slotted a low shot into the net without fuss.
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15 min: The goal hasn’t changed the pattern of play. City are still doing what they want while Gladbach chase around after them. “With the being City’s home match even though it’s being played in Budapest, does the away goals rule only apply to Gladbach today?” asks Chris Whittaker. Yes. So if Gladbach score three without conceding any more, they’re hunky dory.
GOAL! City 1-0 Gladbach (De Bruyne 12) (agg: 3-0)
What a goal! Mahrez lays the ball off to De Bruyne about 23 yards out, and the Belgian thwacks a ferocious left-footed shot into the net via the underside of the bar! Unstoppable.
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10 min: Dinky move down the left by City. Gundogan supplies De Bruyne, who tries to float a pass over to Foden in the centre-forward position. Foden is crowded out before he can do anything useful with it. But City’s movement and passing is really annoying Gladbach.
8 min: A shot from Gladbach! A good one, too, as Embolo opens fire from 20 yards. It took a nick of Stones to make the save more difficult for Ederson, who flung himself to his right to tip it around the post.
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7 min: After numbing Gladbach with their hypnotic passing, City feed Cancelo mid-way inside the opposing half. He drops a perfect pass over the top of the defence and into the path of Foden, who tries to flick it first-time into the net from 15 yards. But he doesn’t catch it right and it’s an easy save.
5 min: For all Gladbach’s endeavour, City are knocking the ball about as they please, like a man reading a newspaper on a park bench unperturbed by pigeons pecking the grass around him.
2 min: Gladbach’s intent is clear: they’re pressing City high and fast. But City have played through them easily enough so far.
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1 min: Gladbach do the kickoff right. Hats off to them.
Here come the teams. City have the breezy saunter of a team going out to dance. Gladbach look like they know what’s coming...
“I live in Germany,” announces Bruce. “My neighbour is a huge Gladbach fan. Everyone here calls them Gladbach.” So what you’re saying is Gordon Fenns [19:22] is a godbaw?
Guardiola has had a quick powwow with TV. Want to know why he went for this particular lineup? “We decided this team like I could have chosen another one,” he discloses. Pressed on the reasons Sterling’s non-inclusion, he replies. “Like I said before, we decided on Riyad and Phil.” Maybe he’ll be more forthcoming on the potential threats posed by Gladbach: “the physicality, the speed and the pace they have up front,” he suggests. So now you know.
“Reading a piece in a rag this side of the pond I learned something utterly unexpected,” reveals Peter Oh. “That there is one person on this green earth who actually enjoys listening to the Champions League anthem. It’s Gladbach defender Nico Elvedi. I hope he enjoys the aural moment because I reckon one of the next things he and his teammates will hear is the horrific scratching sound of an early City goal knocking the needle out of Borussia’ groove and smashing the turntable.”
“The Gordon Fenns request to use the full name of the club reminds me of the old joke,” begins Philip Kennedy. “The one that goes something along the lines of: Who is the most unpopular Borussia Mönchengladbach fan? The one that starts up the chant, ‘Give me a B!...’’.”
“Typical Guardian hipsterism calling City’s opponents ‘Gladbach’,” snorts Gordon Fenns. “Is it too much to ask that you use their actual name, you pretentious hack?” Don’t be a gobdaw. I’m not pretentious, I’m lazy busy: in a minute-by-minute report it’s practical to call them Gladbach rather than Borussia Mönchengladbach. For similar reasons, I will be referring to Manchester City FC as City. Is that OK with you? Paradoxically, I’m referring to you as a gobdaw even though I can think of a much handier, shorter word. Apologies for the inconsistency.
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BT are showing a pre-recorded interview of Pep Guardiola by Rio Ferdinand. When asked why City have not been able to win the Champions League yet, Guardiola reaches for the old ‘small margins’ refrain, saying that at critical moments over the years, luck has done against City. To reinforce his point, he notes that Ferdinand might not have got his hands on the trophy if not for John Terry’s slip. Ferdinand’s smile at that memory made the whole interview worthwhile.
Teams
After being omitted from the starting lineup against Fulham at the weekend, Raheem Sterling again finds himself on the bench. But then, look at the strength of that squad:
City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo; Silva, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne; Foden
Subs: Aguero, Garcia, Laporte, Steffen, Fernandinho, Mendy, Carson, Torres, Zinchenko, Jesus, Sterling, Ake
Gladbach: Sommer; Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi, Bensebaini; Hofmann, Neuhaus, Stindl, Zakaria; Embolo, Thuram
Subs: Sippel, Grun, Lang, Kramer, Hermann, Wolf, Plea, Traore, Beyer, Wendt, Lazaro, Jantschke
Referee: S Karasev (Rus)
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to you and them. This might seem like a foregone conclusion, with the run-away Premier League leaders taking a 2-0 lead into their second-leg tie against the 10th-best team in Germany. But City are a club who’ve learned never to take anything for granted, which is why Pep Guardiola gave young Oleksandr Zinchenko a metaphorical clip round the ear this week for suggesting they’ve got their sights on a historic grand slam of trophies this season. In the Champions League, in particular, success has eluded City in manners deeply agonising and/or amusing, with eliminations to the likes of Tottenham and Lyon in recent seasons meaning that Borussia Monchengladbach are not entirely without hope going into this game. That said, losing to this lot would represent a new low for Guardiola, with the Germans arriving on a six-game losing streak, including that first leg, when City could have battered them by much more than two goals. So a fourth Champions League quarter-final in a row looks to be on the horizon for City but, well, it’s football, and City, so you never know.
Bearings update: in case you’re struggling to keep up with the logistical arrangements demanded by these strange times, this match, despite being designated City’s home leg, is taking place in Budapest, Hungary. City have only played there once before but at least they can boast a 100% record thanks to a 1-0 win over Honved in the 1970/71 Cup Winners’ Cup. All that win did, mind you, was tee them up for elimination in a later round by none other than Chelsea, who they could conceivably meet again in this season’s Champions League if they don’t mess up today ...
