“We just have to ensure we perform and see what happens”.
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David Silva produced a much-needed equaliser on the stroke of half time after City had fallen behind to Raffael’s 24th minute opener for Borussia Monchengladbach. “In the end after we got the red card we killed the game off, we are through and that’s the most important thing”. It’s such a tough competition, there are so many good teams.
That would deprive City of a great, if ageing centre-half but most of all, it would deprive Guardiola of something he has too few of – a leader.
“Sergio finished the game not injured but he has a problem in his foot”, Guardiola said. Gladbach set up in compact fashion, ready to allow City to dominate possession before breaking on the counter.
Toure recently apologised for his representative’s remarks, and made his return to Guardiola’s line-up in a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace last weekend, scoring both goals. Tony Jantschke replaced Jannik Vestergaard at the back and Fabian Johnson came in for Thorgan Hazard who was excused “for personal reasons”.
Raffael started as the lone striker with Stindl in the attacking midfield role and the hosts took a deserved lead on 23 minutes.
John Stones thought he’d been fouled, but he was muscled off the ball and when Lars Stindl found the unmarked Raffael, the Brazilian picked his spot before hammering his shot past Bravo.
But City nearly equalised in the 35th minute when Yann Sommer was forced into a stunning save to keep out Gundogan’s stinging volley.
Gladbach lost Guinea winger Ibrahima Traore to injury on 40 minutes which unsettled their attack.
City’s performance was a little underwhelming after the highs of beating Barcelona but it was a professional one and De Bruyne and David Silva were the key men.
He teed up Raheem Sterling at the start of the second half to score, but his effort was ruled out for offside, and De Bruyne later hit a spectacular 20-yard strike that Sommer tipped over the bar.
Equilibrium however was restored just ten minutes later when Fernandinho also saw a second yellow for a hold on Raffael, leaving the final 25 minutes to be played out ten vs. ten.
Raffael nearly made City pay immediately when he fired wide of the left post from the edge of the box, having created space for the shot with quick feet.
At the other end, City pushed for the victor with Silva and Aguero creating chances, but Sommer and the Gladbach defence held firm.
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“I’m lucky in that sense because we are not going to face Bayern Munich! It’s a massive game and hopefully we can get some points from that”, winger and Iceland worldwide Johann Gudmundsson said.
