Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Champions League journey for this season has come to an end, after they drew 1-1 with Manchester City in their fifth Champions League group stage match. However, the Fohlenelf aren’t completely out of Europe, as they’ve secured third spot on Group C, meaning they’ll drop into the next stage of the Europa League next year. With a win in their final group stage encounter, they could still theoretically draw level with Man City, however, due to their inferior head-to-head record, they will not be able to overtake the Manchester club in second place. Raffael put Gladbach into the lead after 22 minutes, but David Silva leveled for the visitors on the stroke of half time.
The hosts had to do without dangerman Thorgan Hazard, as the Belgian sat this game out due to personal reasons. Germany national team player Ilkay Gündogan started for City, while fellow countryman Leroy Sané was on the bench.
Raffael opens the scoring
As expected, Pep Guardiola’s men controlled the ball for large spells, with the Spanish coach following his team animatedly from the touch line. He had reason to look forward to the game, as his team triumphed 4-0 when the sides first clashed in the group, but tonight’s game was much more balanced. Gladbach were willing runners and so closed down their opponents’ space well, not allowing star players Gündogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Agüero to express themselves. Schubert’s side were well drilled and counted quickly after winning the ball, and this was how they created their first chance. However, Fabian Johnson’s low effort wasn’t enough to beat Claudio Bravo in the seventh minute.
Despite not winning in six Bundesliga games, the Fohlenelf came out of the traps confidently. The perfect reward for this brave start arrived after a little over 20 minutes, as Raffael left Bravo helpless with a strike from 15 yards - captain Lars Stindl set up the opener.
Silva equalizes on the stroke of half time
After going in front, the hosts continued to look strong at the back. Gündogan had a good chance in the 35th minute but found Yann Sommer in his way and in the 45th minute, Sommer was also called into action to deal with a Sergio Agüero effort. However, Man City leveled things up through David Silva with the last attack of the first half - this time the Swiss was helpless .
Shortly after the break, things looked to have gone wrong for Borussia as Lars Stindl was shown a second yellow (51’), but Gladbach were only down a man for twelve minutes before Fernandinho was also given his marching orders. Scorer of the first goal Raffael shot over the Man City bar with Borussia’s first chance of the second period.
City continued to control the game but never put Sommer’s goal under serious pressure. Firstly, Kevin de Bruyne tested the Fohlenelf ‘keeper (67’), before a Jesus Navas strike with ten minutes to go also didn’t make it past Gladbach’s no. 1.
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Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Champions League journey for this season has come to an end, after they drew 1-1 with Manchester City in their fifth Champions League group stage match. However, the Fohlenelf aren’t completely out of Europe, as they’ve secured third spot on Group C, meaning they’ll drop into the next stage of the Europa League next year. With a win in their final group stage encounter, they could still theoretically draw level with Man City, however, due to their inferior head-to-head record, they will not be able to overtake the Manchester club in second place. Raffael put Gladbach into the lead after 22 minutes, but David Silva leveled for the visitors on the stroke of half time.
The hosts had to do without dangerman Thorgan Hazard, as the Belgian sat this game out due to personal reasons. Germany national team player Ilkay Gündogan started for City, while fellow countryman Leroy Sané was on the bench.
Raffael opens the scoring
As expected, Pep Guardiola’s men controlled the ball for large spells, with the Spanish coach following his team animatedly from the touch line. He had reason to look forward to the game, as his team triumphed 4-0 when the sides first clashed in the group, but tonight’s game was much more balanced. Gladbach were willing runners and so closed down their opponents’ space well, not allowing star players Gündogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Agüero to express themselves. Schubert’s side were well drilled and counted quickly after winning the ball, and this was how they created their first chance. However, Fabian Johnson’s low effort wasn’t enough to beat Claudio Bravo in the seventh minute.
Despite not winning in six Bundesliga games, the Fohlenelf came out of the traps confidently. The perfect reward for this brave start arrived after a little over 20 minutes, as Raffael left Bravo helpless with a strike from 15 yards - captain Lars Stindl set up the opener.
Silva equalizes on the stroke of half time
After going in front, the hosts continued to look strong at the back. Gündogan had a good chance in the 35th minute but found Yann Sommer in his way and in the 45th minute, Sommer was also called into action to deal with a Sergio Agüero effort. However, Man City leveled things up through David Silva with the last attack of the first half - this time the Swiss was helpless .
Shortly after the break, things looked to have gone wrong for Borussia as Lars Stindl was shown a second yellow (51’), but Gladbach were only down a man for twelve minutes before Fernandinho was also given his marching orders. Scorer of the first goal Raffael shot over the Man City bar with Borussia’s first chance of the second period.
City continued to control the game but never put Sommer’s goal under serious pressure. Firstly, Kevin de Bruyne tested the Fohlenelf ‘keeper (67’), before a Jesus Navas strike with ten minutes to go also didn’t make it past Gladbach’s no. 1.
