8 min: A shot from Gladbach! A good one, too, as Embolo opens fire from 20 yards. It took a nick of Zinchenko to make the save more difficult for Ederson, who flung himself to his right to tip it around the post.
7 min: After numbing Gladbach with their hypnotic passing, City feed Cancelo mid-way inside the opposing half. He drops a perfect pass over the top of the defence and into the path of Foden, who tries to flick it first-time into the net from 15 yards. But he doesn’t catch it right and it’s an easy save.
5 min: For all Gladbach’s endeavour, City are knocking the ball about as they please, like a man reading a newspaper on a park bench unperturbed by pigeons pecking the grass around him.
2 min: Gladbach’s intent is clear: they’re pressing City high and fast. But City have played through them easily enough so far.
1 min: Gladbach do the kickoff right. Hats off to them.
Here come the teams. City have the breezy saunter of a team going out to dance. Gladbach look like they know what’s coming...
“I live in Germany,” announces Bruce. “My neighbour is a huge Gladbach fan. Everyone here calls them Gladbach.” So what you’re saying is Gordon Fenns [19:22] is a godbaw?
Guardiola has had a quick powwow with TV. Want to know why he went for this particular lineup? “We decided this team like I could have chosen another one,” he discloses. Pressed on the reasons Sterling’s non-inclusion, he replies. “Like I said before, we decided on Riyad and Phil.” Maybe he’ll be more forthcoming on the potential threats posed by Gladbach: “the physicality, the speed and the pace they have up front,” he suggests. So now you know.
“Reading a piece in a rag this side of the pond I learned something utterly unexpected,” reveals Peter Oh. “That there is one person on this green earth who actually enjoys listening to the Champions League anthem. It’s Gladbach defender Nico Elvedi. I hope he enjoys the aural moment because I reckon one of the next things he and his teammates will hear is the horrific scratching sound of an early City goal knocking the needle out of Borussia’ groove and smashing the turntable.”
“The Gordon Fenns request to use the full name of the club reminds me of the old joke,” begins Philip Kennedy. “The one that goes something along the lines of: Who is the most unpopular Borussia Mönchengladbach fan? The one that starts up the chant, ‘Give me a B!...’’.”
“Typical Guardian hipsterism calling City’s opponents ‘Gladbach’,” snorts Gordon Fenns. “Is it too much to ask that you use their actual name, you pretentious hack?” Don’t be a gobdaw. I’m not pretentious, I’m lazy busy: in a minute-by-minute report it’s practical to call them Gladbach rather than Borussia Mönchengladbach. For similar reasons, I will be referring to Manchester City FC as City. Is that OK with you? Paradoxically, I’m referring to you as a gobdaw even though I can think of a much handier, shorter word. Apologies for the inconsistency.
BT are showing a pre-recorded interview of Pep Guardiola by Rio Ferdinand. When asked why City have not been able to win the Champions League yet, Guardiola reaches for the old ‘small margins’ refrain, saying that at critical moments over the years, luck has done against City. To reinforce his point, he notes that Ferdinand might not have got his hands on the trophy if not for John Terry’s slip. Ferdinand’s smile at that memory made the whole interview worthwhile.
After being omitted from the starting lineup against Fulham at the weekend, Raheem Sterling again finds himself on the bench. But then, look at the strength of that squad:
City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo; Silva, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne; Foden
Subs: Aguero, Garcia, Laporte, Steffen, Fernandinho, Mendy, Carson, Torres, Zinchenko, Jesus, Sterling, Ake
Gladbach: Sommer; Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi, Bensebaini; Hofmann, Neuhaus, Stindl, Zakaria; Embolo, Thuram
Subs: Sippel, Grun, Lang, Kramer, Hermann, Wolf, Plea, Traore, Beyer, Wendt, Lazaro, Jantschke
Referee: S Karasev (Rus)
Hello and welcome to you and them. This might seem like a foregone conclusion, with the run-away Premier League leaders taking a 2-0 lead into their second-leg tie against the 10th-best team in Germany. But City are a club who’ve learned never to take anything for granted, which is why Pep Guardiola gave young Oleksandr Zinchenko a metaphorical clip round the ear this week for suggesting they’ve got their sights on a historic grand slam of trophies this season. In the Champions League, in particular, success has eluded City in manners deeply agonising and/or amusing, with eliminations to the likes of Tottenham and Lyon in recent seasons meaning that Borussia Monchengladbach are not entirely without hope going into this game. That said, losing to this lot would represent a new low for Guardiola, with the Germans arriving on a six-game losing streak, including that first leg, when City could have battered them by much more than two goals. So a fourth Champions League quarter-final in a row looks to be on the horizon for City but, well, it’s football, and City, so you never know.
Bearings update: in case you’re struggling to keep up with the logistical arrangements demanded by these strange times, this match, despite being designated City’s home leg, is taking place in Budapest, Hungary. City have only played there once before but at least they can boast a 100% record thanks to a 1-0 win over Honved in the 1970/71 Cup Winners’ Cup. All that win did, mind you, was tee them up for elimination in a later round by none other than Chelsea, who they could conceivably meet again in this season’s Champions League if they don’t mess up today ...
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