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No Kompany at Christmas for Guardiola

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

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Barcelona are top on nine, with Celtic in last place on two.

City have not won any of their past four away Champions League games (D2 L2).

Guardiola said: “After Borussia’s goal we lost control of the game”.

Asked to analyse his side’s performance, Guadiola described himself as “satisfied”, adding: “These players and this club are so new in Europe and every time we play a game like this we improve”.

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

This was not a convincing display from City, particularly in the first half.

Meanwhile, Guardiola confirmed Sergio Aguero is a doubt for the trip to Burnley on Saturday.

The Argentine global scored a hat-trick when City beat Gladbach 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium in September.

The 30-year-old suffered ligament damage in the collision with goalkeeper Claudio Bravo that also left him concussed in Saturday’s Premier League victory at Crystal Palace.

Captain Vincent Kompany, right back Pablo Zabaleta and midfielder Fabian Delph are the only absentees from Wednesday’s squad. Sergio Aguero was the star player of the match as the Argentine scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win.

Guendogan nearly equalised soon afterwards but his low shot saved by Yann Sommer.

Kevin De Bruyne insisted Guardiola’s men had been clinical to get the job done after being forced to come from behind.

Gladbach’s night took a further turn for the worse when Stindl was dismissed following a bodycheck off the ball on Nicolas Otamendi.

City’s numerical advantage was canceled when Fernandinho was shown his second yellow for a foul on Raffael in the 63rd.

The dismissal breathed life into Borussia as Raffael hit the City post moments later.

City were poor in the first half, lacking sharpness and allowing Gladbach to create more chances than their visitors.

Monchengladbach went into the game in poor form and coach Andre Schubert was pleased with the eventual outcome and a place in the Europa League.

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“We didn’t have players and he played wonderful, but now my plans are that Yaya’s going to play more in offensive terms, he will decide the last pass, help our build-up in the last part of the pitch”.

Alex Grimm  Bongarts  Getty Images