He then had an opportunity to doubly punish Raffael’s penalty miss when Hart’s long pass set up a move that put Aguero through, only for him to drag his shot past Sommer’s right-hand post.
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Raffael was a constant danger and gave City a warning as he blazed an early chance over.
Here, B/R picks its winners and losers from the game.
Borussia should have taken the lead in the 20th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Raffael was adjudged to have been upended by Nicolas Otamendi.
When play swung to the other end of the pitch, Aguero clipped his shot wide of Sommer’s goal.
Hart – restored to the team after back trouble – was in top form and rushedout to block Raffael’s shot from Julian Korb’s defence-splitting pass.
Monchengladbach began the second half at the same tempo and Hart was needed again as Raffael broke through once more. Aguero had a number of opportunities in the second-half, but couldn’t beat the goalkeeper when he did have a sight on goal, and he found space limited to work an opening.
Hart was getting little protection from his defence and Martin Demichelis and Otamendi were having a hard night.
Sterling too will certainly feel one of his many efforts in Germany should have amounted to a goal, but he was left frustrated as City looked to once again fall short in Europe.
Kevin de Bruyne’s corner came off the City defender’s knee before being hooked clear. Substitute Jesus Navas delivered a risky cross and Sterling headed over.
Aguero should have scored in the opening minutes.
Hart had a string of additional stops to make before the first half was over, thwarting Raffael in a one-on-one situation in the 34th minute, before denying Patrick Herrmann from a tight angle to keep City level pegging at the interval. A win was the very least he deserved. It was reward for a performance of enterprise, though it had the unfortunate side effect of waking their opponent’s resolve.
The Sky Blues’ victor came under the most dramatic of circumstances.
Pellegrini felt his side were a little fortunate to claim all three points in Germany, but believes results are beginning to even themselves out.
Hart told BT Sport: “We didn’t play well”.
“After the goal we had a strong reaction”. Nicolas Otamendi levelled in contentious circumstances and Sergio Aguero secured the win with a late penalty of his own.
It was a display to rank alongside his heroics at home to Borussia Dortmund a few years ago and against Barcelona in the Nou Camp. “Maybe today we didn’t deserve to win, but we won”. We were really disjointed and have been in the last couple of games in the Premier League that we’ve lost.
“I think it was a very important win”.
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After the equaliser the visitors took control but had to wait until the 90th for Aguero to score from the penalty spot. Kevin (de Bruyne) warned us about them. For 65 minutes both teams had very good chances to score, we did not defend well. “We won and it puts us in a good position”.
