The game is off and so am I ...
Well, it’s been brief but thank for your time and attention. I can’t apologise enough for not being able to bring you lots of lovely minute-by-minutely action, but it’s not really my fault. Rain in Manchester, eh? Who’d a thunk it. If you’re feeling starved of football action, feel free to tune into our minute-by-minute report of PSG v Arsenal and Barcelona v Celtic, which are both very much on.
Gladbach's players come out to greet the fans ...
Gladbach’s players and officials have walked out on to the pitch and ambled down to the away end to salute their supporters, who are in very jubilant mood despite having their Tuesday night football parade quite literally rained on. Fans applaud players and the gesture is reciprocated. The players turn to return to the dressing room and are loudly summoned back, where everyone enjoys an Icelandic thunderclap.
We'll have an announcement later ...
Uefa have said they’ll wait until later this evening to make an announcement about when the match will be replayed. It’s a decision that will be made by the referee, officials from the two clubs and Uefa, who have to decide whether to play tomorrow at some other later date. Despite being asked to make their out of the ground, Gladbach’s fans are still in situ, singing loudly and demanding to see their team. You’ve got to feel sorry for them; most probably have flights home booked for later this evening or tomorrow morning and will probably miss the rescheduled match. Gladbach are due to play Werder Bremen on Saturday, while City will face Bournemouth on the same day.
BT Sport tunnel cam
Sergio Aguero is shown in the tunnel and he looks a bit surprised to learn that the game is off. The pitch is draining brilliantly and does currently look playable, with some City staff out on it kicking a ball around with little sign of adverse effects. However, it seems that circumstances outside the ground may have prompted the decision to postpone the match.
So, what happens next?
Here’s knowledge’s Archie Rhind-Tutt with some official looking words from Uefa.
Here's what happens next with City-Gladbach pic.twitter.com/Kk6qyjEVng
— Archie Rhind-Tutt (@archiert1) September 13, 2016
Tonight’s match is off ...
Club announcement: Tonight’s #UCL match between #mcfc and @borussia_en has been postponed due to adverse weather conditions. #cityvbmg
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 13, 2016
@bglendenning Pretty sure the protocol at times like this is highlights from the Headingley 1981 Test
— Dan Lucas (@DanLucas86) September 13, 2016
More on the floods of Manchester ...
I’m told the local Metrolink is down, which will cause all sorts of bother for fans trying to get to the game, while certain areas around the ground have been closed down due to flooding. The rain is still spilling down and footage of Bjorn Kuipers’ pitch inspection show that the ball simply wasn’t bouncing or moving. The pitch is draining well, but with the downpour showing no sign of abating, it’s difficult to see the match going ahead. With several hundred Gladbach fans sitting topless in the stadium, the DJ is currently entertaining them with a rendition of ...
The weather forecast ...
The rain is due to ease off in the next hour or so, but referee Bjorn Kuipers is expected to make a decision on what to do next in the next 15 or 20 minutes. Somebody at Manchester City does have a sense of humour, it must be said: Travis’s Why Does It Always Rain On Me? is being played over the PA, even if there is hardly anyone in the ground to hear it.
Manchester City v Borussia Moenchengladbach line-ups
Man City: Bravo, Zabaleta, Otamendi, Stones, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling, Aguero.
Subs: Caballero, Sagna, Gundogan, Nolito, Sane, Clichy, Iheanacho.
Borussia M’gladbach: Sommer, Elvedi, Christensen, Strobl,
Johnson, Dahoud, Kramer, Wendt, Hahn, Stindl, Raffael.
Subs: Sippel, Vestergaard, Hazard, Traore, Hofmann, Jantschke, Korb.
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Holland)
The latest on the weather
The stadium is practically empty due to weather-induced problems with the public transport, the fanzone at City Square has been closed because of the adverse weather conditions and referee Björn Kuipers and his assistants have been out on the pitch bouncing a ball and inspecting the surface. The torrential rain is showing no sign of easing and it’s not looking good. If the game is postponed, it may be played tomorrow night instead.
Rain may stop play ...
Jamie Jackson, our man at the Etihad Stadium, has just phoned the office to say the game may succumb to the weather and be called off. It’s 32 degrees centigrade in London and pelting down with rain in Manchester. Go figure. More news as we get it ...
Andre Schubert speaks
“We want to be courageous and brave, we always go into games feeling we are up for it and up for a victory rather than feeling we are going to lose,” said Schubert when he addressed the press last night. “It will take a lot of courage – we need to push ourselves all the way as we are up against a very strong team.”
On his side’s defeat at the hands of Freiburg last weekend, Schubert said: “They’re two different games, two different competitions; you can’t win every game. We weren’t good enough on Saturday but that has little to do with tomorrow’s game. City are favourites. Their results speak for themselves. They have a very good chance [of winning the competition]. They are trying to soften expectations but are one of the best teams in the world, have spent a lot of money and have one of the best coaches in the world on the bench.”
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Pep Guardiola speaks
“It was a pleasure to be the coach of Barcelona and Bayern and [with] their history they are used to reaching semis and finals,” said the Manchester City manager at his pre-match press conference. “Manchester City don’t have that. [Roberto] Mancini helped us achieve the first step and Manuel did a really good job to reach the semi-finals. We have big, big targets in the Champions League. We are far to compete from the best teams in Europe. We have to improve a lot of things. We’re first in the Premier League but the way we have played until now, it will be not enough to win the Premier League so you have to improve.”
On tonight’s opposition, he had this to say: “Gladbach are a brave team, one of the best teams in Europe right now. They have a lot of quality. The draw was difficult for us. They beat me many times [two of the last four meetings, the other two were draws] and they are aggressive. They make the game one-on-one in the build-up and when that happens it is a fight, man to man. With the ball they are so, so intelligent.”
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Match preview
Following their scintillating win over Manchester United at the weekend, Manchester City return to action on the European front, opening this year’s Champions league campaign with a home match against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The German side finished fourth in the Bundesliga last season and qualified for the group stages of this tournament with a thumping aggregate win over Swiss side Young Boys, who had their pants pulled down and were subjected to a painful 9-2 spanking across both legs. Managed by André Schubert, Mönchengladbach were in the same group as Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City last season, losing 2-1 at home and 4-2 at the Etihad. With City now managed by Pep Guardiola, Schubert will be hopeful of taking something from tonight’s game. His Mönchengladbach side went unbeaten against Guardiola’s Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga last season, winning 3-1 at home and drawing against the eventual champions on their travels.
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