Manchester City Champions League Group Stage Results
Manchester City 4-0 Borussia Monchengladbach
Aguero (8’minutes, 28’minutes pen, 77’minutes)
Iheanacho (90’+1 minutes)
Manchester City are bono fide contenders to win the 2017 Champions League and England Premier League if they continue to compete in top form for the rest of their campaign. Kun looks set to be as prolific a goal-scorer as ever in his sixth season in England. The amazing Manchester City talisman superstar striker Sergio Aguero has already scored nine goals in five games this campaign. Kun struck his second hat-trick of the 2016-17 season in City’s postponed opening Champions League group stage match against Borussia Monchengladbach, delighting City manager Pep Guardiola. Man of the Match Aguero now has 3 Champions League goals this season tied with Lionel Messi, 25 Champions League goals total.
City defeated Bournemouth on Saturday remaining top of the England Premier League Table as the only EPL club to win all their matches this season to date. City’s next Champions League clash will be on September 28 at Celtic, who were soundly defeated 7-0 by FC Barcelona in Group C in their opening Group Stage match. Aguero will miss Saturday's Premier League clash with Bournemouth and a League Cup tie at Swansea due to a five match EPL suspension.
City enjoyed their victory in front of only about 32,000 fans after Tuesday's postponement due to a torrential downpour two hours before kick-off on Tuesday that forced the original game to be called off and nearly half of Monchengladbach's fans flew home before Wednesday's rescheduled match. "It was the most dominant performance of my time here, considering the importance of the game," said the former Bayern Munich boss Guardiola. Germany international Ilkay Gundogan made his debut for City after his summer transfer having competed nearly five years at Borussia Dortmund. Gundogan signed for £20m from Dortmund.
"He is an amazing player and we are so happy to have him here," said Guardiola of Gundogan. Spain international David Silva was left out of Man City's postponed match with Borussia Moenchengladbach at the Etihad due to a "little bit of a problem", said Pep Guardiola. Silva’s absence duly handed a Manchester City debut to twenty-five-year-old Gundogan, who has returned to fitness after a dislocated knee last season. “In the training session this morning Silva didn’t feel good," said Guardiola before the match. "It wasn’t a big risk but he didn’t feel comfortable so that’s why I left him out."
“Gundogan has experience, but he needs minutes. It is one of the most important games, but we had a problem with Fernando - he is not fit - and Fabian Delph," added Pep. "We will use Gundogan for as many minutes as possible.” Monchengladbach keeper Yann Sommer produced two intense saves to deny Aguero, as Pep Guardiola's men made 23 attempts at goal against the feisty German side that finished fourth in last season's Bundesliga. After City’s victory, new Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola expressed his gratitude to his side for seven wins in seven matches, and asked for City fans’ support at future Champions League games.
"Thanks for all the players for making me and the fans so happy. I hope our football can be better and better and all the fans can come here and see us. We need the support and the stadium full to compete against the best,” said Guardiola. "There have been seven official games and we have won.” all of them. Every time we play better and better. Today we learned a lot. Following his side’s loss to Man City, Borussia Monchengladbach manager Andre Schubert discussed what his men did wrong. "We had to get everything right, be very courageous and attack high up with high intensity. "We didn't manage to do that. We couldn't stop City's build-up and we didn't show quality in defense. That's why Man City won so clearly."
Squads
Manchester City
Bravo; Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Gundogan, Fernandinho; Navas, De Bruyne, Sterling; Aguero
Subs: Caballero, Sagna, Nolito, Sane, Clichy, Iheanacho, Angelino
Gladbach
Sommer; Elvedi, Christensen, Strobl; Kramer, Dahoud, Johnson, Wendt; Stindl; Raffael, Hahn
Subs: Vestergaard, Hazard, Traore, Sippel, Hofmann, Jantschke, Korb
UEFA Champions League Tickets
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