Manchester City 2, Borussia Monchengladbach 0 (UEFA Champions League – Man City win 4-0 on aggregate)
Manchester City put Borussia Monchengladbach to the sword as they qualified for the quarter finals of the Champions League for the fourth successive season with a 4-0 aggregate win.
Embed from Getty ImagesAnd City notched up a seventh consecutive clean sheet in the competition as part of the joint second longest run of clean sheets in Champions League history – level with AC Milan in April 2005 and behind only Arsenal in April 2006 (10) – conceding only once in Champions League games this term.
Goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan by the 18th minute ensured there was to be no miracle for the Germans, whose confidence has been at a low ebb with six straight defeats, including a 2-0 reverse against City, since boss Marco Rose announced he was joining rivals Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
After the impressive performance, City boss Pep Guardiola admitted that his experiences in Germany had shaped this season’s likely Premier League champions.
He said: “It was a good performance. This competition is tricky and after 2-0 things were easier.
“Everyone moved the ball quick and we had options with Phil [Foden] and Riyad [Mahrez].”
But he also said that this season he was seeing signs of a side that may be ready to lift this season’s big prize, adding: “In previous seasons I didn’t see a team that wanted to make a step forward.
“Hopefully they can maintain this mood and we can compete.”
Perhaps the difference this time was City’s mean defence who have gone 706 minutes without conceding a goal in the Champions League.
Guardiola said: “We conceded just one goal against Porto. We can’t deny that Ruben [Dias] and John Stones] made an incredible step forward for the team but Aymeric [Laporte] and Kyle [Walker] are back now.
“Everyone up front and in the middle helps out – we defend with the ball.
“But what happened in the past is in the past. One bad moment and a team can punish you.”
He explained that the idea for using full backs in midfield was developed in Germany against opponents such as Monchengladbach.
He said: “I learned in Germany that without the ball they can kill you.
“The reason is to have more players in the middle to pass the ball.
“We did it with Fabian Delph in the Centurions season.”
And he has found the ideal player in Joao Cancelo to pick up where Joshua Kimmich left off in his Bayern side.
But Guardiola emphasised that it was his fully fit squad that could carry City to greatness this season, rather than specific players.
He said: “It’s impossible without having 20 players, everyone fit, so we can rotate players.
“Everyone has to be fresh, not just physically but mentally.
“We didn’t have one long week since October, September.
“Everyone will get their minutes; against Fulham we played with two proper strikers, tonight we played with none.”
With the expectation growing in the latter stages, Friday’s draw will be of much interest for City.
Manchester City blow away Borussia Monchengladbach in first half to win Champions League tie
With the second leg of this tie played at the Puskas Arena in Hungary due to COVID restrictions, City went into their ‘home’ tie with no strikers as Pep Guardiola rang the changes from the side that beat Fulham at the weekend with five changes.
De Bruyne, Gundogan, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez, and Kyle Walker started in Hungary for City.
Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Ferran Torres, Gabriel Jesus, and Sergio Aguero were on a very deep bench alongside Raheem Sterling who returned to the match day squad after missing out altogether against Fulham.
Irresistible City were in control of the game from the start in a superb first half and Foden was denied by Jan Sommer with a save from the England youngster who flicked the ball goalwards after being found with a precise forward pass by Joao Cancelo.
It took just 12 minutes to breach the German defence as City notched up a special 100th goal in all competitions the season with a left foot thunderbolt by De Bruyne from 20 yards out after Mahrez had laid the ball off to him.
It was the Belgian’s 4th goal of the season and left Monchengladbach with a mountain to climb after the ball went in off the crossbar and beyond the reach of Sommer.
Ilkay Gundogan was on the scoresheet 6 minutes later after Foden turned with the ball and raced into space in midfield to slide the ball to the German who finished with aplomb from Foden’s 9th assist in all competitions this term for his 15th goal of the season.
And with that strike Gundogan became the top scoring German across all competitions this term in the top 5 European leagues.
Mahrez almost sent Gundogan clean through again but poor control allowed Sommer the chance to retrieve the ball as the Germans became dizzy chasing City shadows.
But City kept the heat up and Bernardo Silva earned a free kick 30 yards out when Lars Stindl fouled him.
De Bruyne’s subsequent free kick was tipped over the bar by Sommer.
City’s opponents never gave up though and Breel Embolo was presented with three chances during the first half thanks to their high press but the striker couldn’t beat Ederson twice and blazed wide under pressure from Stones.
City almost profited from a misplaced German pass with Mahrez shooting wide soon after the restart.
But the Germans never gave up despite conceding much of possession but they were up against a City side who were still playing as though they needed a goal.
City’s first changes came in the 64th minute with the priority to rest players – Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fernandinho came on for Cancelo and Rodri.
Monchengladbach reacted by taking off Embolo and Marcus Thuram to bring on Alassane Plea and Hannes Wolf.
Mahrez saw his shot saved by Sommer with Zinchenko and Foden waiting for the square pass while he tried again shortly afterwards only to see Sommer make another save.
Sterling and Laporte replaced Gundogan and Ruben Dias with 20 minutes to go with more players getting a rest.
And finally, it was Aguero’s turn to come on, replacing Silva with 15 minutes to go.
Sterling could have been clean through on goal soon after that but he slipped as he received another incisive De Bruyne pass while Wolf blazed over to remind City not to be complacent.
Monchengladbach captain Lars Stindl was replaced by Ibrahima Traore for the last 10 minutes.
And Traore wasted a good chance to grab a late goal after running it wide of Ederson’s goal after City allowed their ’visitors’ another shooting chance.
Monchengladbach’s final change saw Tony Jantschke and Oscar Wendt replace Ramy Bensebaini and Nico Elvedi.
And De Bruyne create a pair of shooting chances for Mahrez at the end who drifted each curling shot wide of the back post but the game was long since over.
GOALS – Manchester City 2, Borussia Monchengladbach 0 (UEFA Champions League – Man City win 4-0 on aggregate)
Man City 1, Borussia Monchengladbach 0: 12. Kevin De Bruyne hammered in a fine goal off the crossbar from 20 yards out beyond the reach of Jan Sommer after Riyad Mahrez laid the ball off to him.
Man City 2, Borussia Monchengladbach 0: 18. Ilkay Gundogan finished with aplomb after running onto a through ball from Phil Foden who had also raced into acres of space.
MATCH STATS – Manchester City 2, Borussia Monchengladbach 0 (UEFA Champions League – Man City win 4-0 on aggregate)
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias (Laporte 70), Cancelo (Zinchenko 64), Bernardo Silva (Aguero 75), Rodri (Fernandinho 64), Gundogan (Sterling 70), Mahrez, Foden, De Bruyne
Man City Subs not used: Steffen, Carson, Ake, Jesus, Torres, Mendy, Garcia
Bookings: Cancelo 55 (foul on Breel Embolo); Fernandinho 82
Goals: De Bruyne 12; Gundogan 18
Borussia Monchengladbach: Sommer, Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi (Jantschke 88), Bensebaini (Wendt 88), Hofmann, Neuhaus, Stindl (Traore 80), Zakaria, Embolo (Wolf 65), Thuram (Plea 65)
Borussia Monchengladbach Subs not used: Grun, Sippel, Lang, Kramer, Hermann, Beyer, Lazaro
Booking: Lainer 61 (foul on Kevin De Bruyne)
Referee: Sergey Karasev