City hunt Gladbach win on Peps return to Germany

City hunt Gladbach win on Peps return to Germany

 

Pep Guardiola takes his Manchester City side back to Germany on Wednesday, hunting a win at Borussia Moenchengladbach to put the Citizens in the last 16 of the Champions League.

City, second in Group C behind leaders Barcelona, will book their knock-out phase place with another victory over Gladbach having won the reverse fixture 4-0 when Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick in mid-September.

The 28-year-old striker revels in clashes against German clubs.

He also scored on his last visit to Borussia Park in September 2015, converting a 90th-minute penalty to earn City a 2-1 win, and netted a hat-trick in a 3-2 victory at home to Bayern Munich in November 2014.

This is the first time Guardiola has returned to Germany for a competitive game since he quit Bayern Munich in May after winning seven titles in three seasons.

Guardiola’s City arrive third in the Premier League table and fresh from Saturday’s 2-1 win at Crystal Palace when Yaya Toure marked his shock return, after three months on the sidelines, with both goals.

But Toure is not eligible for Europe.

Guardiola rested Ilkay Gundogan against Palace and only used David Silva off the bench, a hint that both may feature at Borussia Park.

It will be interesting to see whether Guardiola recalls midfielders Gundogan and Leroy Sane, former Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 stars respectively, who both know the Gladbach team well.

Guardiola has plenty of options as City look to build on their stunning 3-1 defeat of Barcelona three weeks ago.

In contrast, this is a case of win or bust for Gladbach’s Champions League aspirations.

An unlikely victory would lift Gladbach level with City on seven points before Borussia’s daunting final group match away to Barcelona on December 6.

Moenchengladbach will be confirmed in third place — which means a passage into the kock-out phase of the Europa League — if they draw and Celtic lose at home to Barcelona, also on Wednesday night.

“We are the rank outsiders,” admitted Gladbach coach Andre Schubert in Tuesday’s press conference.

“Manchester have the chance of reaching the semis or even the final.

“We have the chance of going into the (January) winter break in the Europa League. That’s our goal.”

But Gladbach are not in good form.

Their 2-1 defeat at home to Cologne on Saturday left them 13th in Germany’s top flight.

They have won just one of their last six home games — a German Cup victory over second-division VfB Stuttgart.

But Schubert’s team led Barcelona at Borussia Park until two second-half goals dug the Group C leaders out of trouble for a 2-1 win in September and Gladbach need another brave performance at home.

“Manchester are continually developing,” said Schubert.

“They are now pressing defences even higher and we have to show we have learnt our lesson from the first game.”

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manchester city Pep Guardiola Barcelona Celtic UEFA Champions League Borussia Moenchengladbach

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