Manchester City booked a spot in
the Champions League last 16 after securing a 1-1 draw at Borussia
Moenchengladbach in their Group C match on Wednesday as both teams had a
player sent off. The hosts, who secured third place in the group
and will go into the Europa League, took a surprise lead through
Brazilian Raffael before David Silva equalised on the stroke of
halftime. Gladbach were reduced to 10 men early in the second half
when captain Lars Stindl was sent off following a second booking but
City's Fernandinho also saw red 12 minutes later. "We controlled
the second half, especially after Fernandinho's red card when we just
held the ball," City's Ilkay Guendogan said. "It was necessary to do that and we are through the group stage which is the most important thing." The
result lifted second-placed City to eight points, four behind leaders
Barcelona, who won 2-0 at Celtic. Gladbach are third on five, three
ahead of the Scottish champions. "Obviously we are satisfied with
the result," said Gladbach coach Andre Schubert. "It was a difficult
game, a complicated one against a great team. "We are super happy
to have grabbed this point, happy that in this group we managed to
finish third with a game left. At the end we did not want to risk
anything."
Fielding a formidable attack with Sergio Aguero, Raheem
Sterling and Jesus Navas, City coach Pep Guardiola, back in Germany for
the first time since leaving Bayern Munich in the close season, made
his intentions clear from the start. His players pressed high in
the Gladbach half and controlled possession but the Germans, without a
win in their last six league matches, remained disciplined. City
failed to carve out a clear scoring chance and the hosts struck on the
break with Stindl charging through and laying the ball off for Raffael
to fire in. Guendogan almost equalised soon afterwards but his low shot saved by Yann Sommer. The
keeper also parried Aguero's effort but could do nothing when unmarked
David Silva slipped into the box to tap in Kevin de Bruyne's cutback in
first-half stoppage time. Gladbach's night took a further turn for
the worse when Stindl was dismissed following a bodycheck off the ball
on Nicolas Otamendi. Fernandinho's sending-off levelled the
numbers up again and neither team were prepared to risk much for a win
in the closing stages as the result suited both.
Match Sheet:
1 - Borussia Mönchengladbach:
Sommer;Elvedi, Jantschke, Christensen, Wendt; Dahoud (Vestergaard, 60),
Strorbl; Traoré (Hofmann, 41) Johnson; Stindl and Raffael (Hahn, 84).
1 - Manchester City: Bravo; Otamendi, Stones, Kolaravov; Fernandinho, Gündogan; Navas, De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling (Sagna, 68); and Agüero.
Goals: 1-0: min 24, Raffael. 1-1: min 45, Silva
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (TUR).
Booked: Stindl, Fernandinho, Janschke, Raffael.
Red Cards: Stindl and Fernandinho.
Attendance: 42.283 spectators at Borussia Park (Mönchengladbach).
Comments
Post a Comment