Borussia Moenchengladbach handed out tongue-in-cheek letters of apology to the bosses of the supporters who attended Wednesday’s rearranged Champions League game at Manchester City.
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Lukas Nmecha’s brace, ably assisted by Paolo Fernandes and Jadon Sancho gave City a 4-1 win at the Academy Stadium, but it is Brahim Diaz who is singled out for praise.
“We thank you for being his boss, for accepting his apology to stay away for one day”.
The decision was made just after 7.20pm, with conditions being deemed unplayable by the match officials.
Manchester City: Bravo, Zabaleta, Otamendi, Stones, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Sterling, Aguero.
A group of Uefa officials carrying blue umbrellas performed a pitch inspection around 45 minutes prior to the scheduled kick-off time.
Gladbach admitted they were not happy with the final decision.
Gladbach’s players, wearing green and black club tracksuits, came out to salute them before returning to their changing room.
The opening night of Champions League saw the English clubs get off to something of a stuttering start. “But it wasn’t meant to be”.
The entire Metrolink network had been suspended after two substations were hit by lightning, and there were reports of stores in the city centre being flooded.
The other match in Group C ended with Barcelona beating Celtic 7-0 at the Camp Nou to kick off their European campaign in style.
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Monchengladbach face Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Saturday and spokesman Markus Aretz told reporters his club were pushing for an earlier kick-off on Wednesday, with 6pm their preference due to issues surrounding flights and hotels in Manchester.
