Paul Wilson's match report
Full time: Manchester City 4-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
There’s the final whistle and Pep Guardiola’s first Champions League outing with Man City is a unqualified success thanks to a Kun Aguero hat trick.
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GOAL! Manchester City 4-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach (Iheanacho, 90 min+1)
Really not much to say about Iheanacho’s tap-in to seal the victory except that Gladbach is mentally already on the plane home.
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90 min: The extended game of keep away continues into the final minute. Fourth official has signaled for two minutes of stoppage time.
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86 min: City merely keeping possession now as Gladbach half-heartedly press. Playing out the string it seems.
83 min: And now Aguero, who’s caused enough headaches for the visitors tonight, exits for Iheanacho. Whew!
81 min: Now Gundogan leaves to an ovation from the crowd as Clichy comes on. Also, Gladbach make their final chance as Stindl enters for Traoré.
80 min: Guardiola makes a switch for City as Sterling exits for Sané.
GOAL! Manchester City 3-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach (Aguero, 77min)
And there’s the hat trick for Kun Aguero, who easily puts home a perfectly weighted through ball by Sterling. It’s his second hat trick in Europe this year.
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76 min: Another well struck shot from close range, this one by Navas, but Sommer stands tall once more and turns it away.
74 min: Gundogan, whose debut start for City has gone swimmingly, takes the corner but it’s easily cleared. The match seems to have stagnated here.
73 min: Moments after Kolarov’s shot misses the target, De Bruyne releases Sterling once more and he’s got Sommer in a one-on-one breakaway. Tries it slot it through the keeper’s legs but it’s deflected out for a corner.
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68 min: Pausing from the onslaught to leaf through reader submissions, here’s an email from PS Calder:
The Guardian can’t have it both ways: writing articles about the boring predictability of the CL first round then poking fun at City for not selling out a postponed fixture.
You lads really are a bunch of muppets.
Keenly observed on multiple levels.
66 min: Now it’s Zabaleta who has a go but his shot is off target. That’s 13 total attempts for City compared to three for Gladbach. One-way traffic.
64 min: Another shot by De Bruyne but Sommer makes the save comfortably. (What did we say earlier about déjà vu?)
61 min: Another shot by De Bruyne but Sommer makes the save comfortably.
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59 min: Moments after Otamendi’s attempt sails over the bar, Gladbach make their second switch as Hazard enters for Hahn.
57 min: Another Man City shot blocked. The deluge continues. Substitutions coming up.
53 min: Another chance for City set up by De Bruyne who releases Jesus Navas, but the Spanish winger’s shot caroms off a defender. The official attendance figure seems like honest accounting: 30,217.
official attendance at the Etihad is 30,217 at their 60,000 seater stadium. pathetic. absolutely pathetic. #Emptihad
— Chris Williams (@chrisjw27) September 14, 2016
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50 min: Aguero nearly makes it a hat trick but his effort off a Sterling cut-back is turned away by Sommer, who has had a series of massive saves today.
48 min: Otamendi shown yellow after ripping down Raffael near the halfway line.
46 min: And they’re off in the second half!
Half-time: Manchester City 2-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
City in clear control here as the teams head to the locker rooms. Will be interesting to see André Schubert’s tinkering can yield dividends after the break.
45 min: Sterling, with the ball on the edge of the area, somehow escapes two oncoming defenders and plays back to Aguero, whose shot sails over the crossbar. One minute of stoppage time forthcoming.
44 min: City on the attack again. They’re dispossessed and Gladbach throw numbers forward but it’s booted forward and easily corralled by Bravo.
42 min: A cracker of a shot by Stindl and Claudio Bravo makes a hair-trigger save!
41 min: A corner for Gladbach. Might this be the opportunity they need to get back into the match?
38 min: A tactical substitution here as Julian Korb comes on for Christoph Kramer as Gladbach switches to a back four.
34 min: Moments after Stindl’s shot is blocked, only Gladbach’s second attempt of the day, the visitors win a corner. Raffael takes it and it’s easily cleared.
30 min: No rest for the weary. Another attempt on goal by Gundogan, a speculative attempt that misses the mark. Why not at this point?
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach (Aguero, 28 min)
Aguero sends the keeper the wrong direction, slots it home and has a brace inside a half hour to lift City to a 2-nil advantage. That’s 13 goals in his last 12 starts.
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27 min: Kramer trips up Gundogan just inside the area and the referee points to the spot! The young German is shown yellow and Aguero will take the penalty.
26 min: More verve from Gladbach here as they swing it across the pitch and find Raffael, who’s attempt from inside the area is blocked by Stones.
22 min: Gladbach win their first corner and Raffael takes it. It’s flicked toward goal but goes out for another corner that’s easily cleared.
19 min: Two quick corners for City, both taken by De Bruyne and both coming to nothing. Lots of comments on the fans disguised as empty seats today.
@BryanAGraham Is it just a set of unflattering TV shots or are there a bunch of seats empty at City's stadium? #MBM #DidEveryoneGoToWembley
— Prateek Chadha (@PrateekKChadha) September 14, 2016
It doesn’t look pretty.
Man City-Monchengladbach game, originally scheduled for yesterday. #UCL (https://t.co/akuNXreL44) pic.twitter.com/dGRi9VSqYf
— Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) September 14, 2016
17 min: Gladbach have yet to find their footing here and have hardly been able to keep City at bay, let alone create any attempts of their own. Even merely keeping possession for a minute or so in City’s half, as they’re doing right now, feels like a victory.
14 min: Another corner for City. De Bruyne’s corner is poorly cleared by Gladbach and Fernandinho winds up with a shot that misses the target.
12 min: How near City came to making it two! A lightning-quick counter-attack off a dispossession as De Bruyne finds Aguero who serves to Gundogan, who’s shot is turned away by a fully extended Sommer. City in fine form here running rampant.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach (Aguero, 9 min)
Kolarov sends a low cross into the box from the left side of the area and Aguero darts in front of Christensen at the near post to turn it in. A dream start for the hosts.
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7 min: Gladbach pressing high when City are backed in own third while the hosts continue to play long balls over the defense.
6 min: De Bruyne whips in the corner but it’s easily corralled by Sommer.
5 min: Bit of a slow opening for both sides with nothing even resembling a threat until City win a corner nearly five full minutes in.
1 min: And we’re off! City attacking from left to right in traditional home kits, Gladbach from right to left in the all-black third strip.
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And the players are emerging from the tunnel as the Champions League anthem rings through the ground. Not much longer now.
The teams!
Here’s a look at the teams for today’s match at the Etihad Stadium.
Man City
XI: Bravo; Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Gundogan, Fernandinho; Navas, De Bruyne, Sterling; Aguero
Subs: Caballero, Sagna, Nolito, Sane, Clichy, Iheanacho, Angelino
Gladbach
XI: Sommer; Elvedi, Christensen, Strobl; Kramer, Dahoud, Johnson, Wendt; Stindl; Raffael, Hahn
Subs: Vestergaard, Hazard, Traore, Sippel, Hofmann, Jantschke, Korb
Hello and welcome to today’s Champions League group-stage match between Manchester City and VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach. If this fixture feels like déjà vu, it’s either because it was meant to go off yesterday before weather got in the way or because the sides met in the group stage of last year’s competition with City winning both matches.
Nonetheless, Pep Guardiola’s first Champions League match as City’s manager is finally upon us and the Spaniard is not underestimating the Bundesliga side.
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.
Plenty more to come with kickoff roughly a quarter hour from now.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how Borussia Mönchengladbach entertained themselves after Tuesday night’s postponement.
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