Pressure off as injury-hit City welcome Gladbach
Monday, December 7, 2015
Article summary
Mönchengladbach arrive in England fresh from victory over Bayern, their hopes further raised by Manuel Pellegrini's assertion that finishing second would be no disgrace for Manchester City.
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Article body
- Manuel Pellegrini not overly anxious with Manchester City having already qualified
- "Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal would like to be in our position," he notes
- City must win and hope for a Juventus defeat at Sevilla in order to snatch first place
- To be sure of finishing third, the Foals have to win in Manchester
- Mönchengladbach stunned Bayern on Saturday with a new 3-5-2 system
Possible lineups
City: Hart; Sagna, Otamendi, Mangala, Clichy; Fernandinho, Delph, Touré, De Bruyne, Silva; Bony.
Out: Demichelis (tendon), Fernando (hamstring), Kompany (calf), Nasri (leg), Zabaleta (knee)
Doubtful: Agüero (ankle)
Mönchengladbach: Sommer; Elvedi, Christensen, Nordtveit; Korb, Wendt, Xhaka, Dahoud, Johnson; Stindl, Raffael.
Out: Domínguez (back), Stranzl (eye socket), N Schulz (knee), Herrmann (knee), Hahn (shin), Traoré (thigh)
Manuel Pellegrini, City manager
The most important thing was to qualify. Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal would like to be in our position. If you don't finish at the top of the group, I don't think it is disappointing. We [had] to play twice against Juventus, who are the best team in the group. I don't think we always have to be pessimistic about the draw.
André Schubert, Mönchengladbach coach
We definitely want to continue our European adventure. We will be up against a very, very strong opponent, but we will do everything we can to achieve something on our terms. We can take things from the Bayern game: mostly that we can mix it with the strongest teams in the world.
Our fans have got a feeling for the opportunities we have and how we can play – we are going through a good spell at the moment. We know what we have to do. It will be a great game. We will do all we can in a great atmosphere against a great club, to put on a great display.
Weekend results
Stoke 2-0 Manchester City (Arnautovic 7 15)
City have failed to win any of their last four away games in the Premier League – failing to score in three of them – after Xherdan Shaqiri twice set up Marko Arnautovic for the Potters.
Mönchengladbach 3-1 Bayern (Wendt 54, Stindl 66, Johnson 68; Ribéry 81)
The Foals remain unbeaten under Schubert in the league as they inflicted a first domestic defeat of the campaign on the leaders and became the first side to score more than once against Bayern in the 2015/16 Bundesliga.
Form guide (all competitions, most recent first)
City: LWWLLD
Mönchengladbach: WDWWDD
Reporter's view: Simon Hart (@UEFAcomSimonH)
City have qualified, but their supporters will want a reaction from the team after Saturday's poor performance. "They were probably quite embarrassed at the end," was the verdict of Stoke's England goalkeeper Jack Butland, although Pellegrini suggested afterwards that his side looked tired and injuries to key men like Vincent Kompany, Yaya Touré and Sergio Agüero were limiting his selection options. Touré was back in training on Monday, which is at least one bit of good news for the Chilean.
Did you know?
Mönchengladbach overcame City 4-2 on aggregate en route to lifting the UEFA Cup in 1979; find out more in our match background.