Buoyed City out to surmount Gladbach hurdle

Manchester City FC will look to build on their exciting home victory over FC Barcelona last time out when they visit VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach on matchday five.

• In fighting back to beat Group C leaders Barcelona 3-1, City opened up a three-point lead on third-placed Mönchengladbach and can tie up qualification with victory in Germany. A draw will be enough if Celtic FC lose at home to Barcelona in the section's other fixture.

• Gladbach must win, or draw and hope Celtic beat Barcelona to retain any hope of progressing. A draw would secure third place for the Bundesliga side should Celtic lose to Barcelona.

Previous meetings
• City won 2-1 at Gladbach in last season's group stage. Sergio Agüero converted a 90th-minute penalty after Martín Demichelis had cancelled out Lars Stindl's opening goal on an evening also featuring a first-half Joe Hart penalty save from Raffael.

• The line-ups on 30 September 2015 were:
Gladbach: Sommer, Christensen, Korb (Traoré 78), Dominguez, Wendt, Dahoud (Nordtveit 84), Xhaka, Herrmann (Hahn 72), Johnson, Stindl, Raffael.
City: Hart, Sagna, Demichelis, Otamendi, Kolarov, Touré (Fernando 65), Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Silva (Navas 65), Sterling (Zabaleta 90+4), Agüero.

• City fought back once more to consign Gladbach to fourth place in the group when beating them 4-2 on 8 December. The visitors had led 2-1 after Julian Korb and Raffael overturned David Silva's goal, but City struck three times in the last ten minutes through Raheem Sterling (twice) and Wilfried Bony to ensure they won the section.

• Eventual winners Mönchengladbach overcame City 4-2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the 1978/79 UEFA Cup. Ewald Lienen cancelled out Mick Channon's goal in the first leg at Maine Road and Gladbach won the return 3-1 through goals by Christian Kulik, Hans-Günter Bruns and Karl Del'Haye. Kazimierz Deyna scored for City.

Match background

Mönchengladbach
• André Schubert's men are still seeking a first home win in Group D. Although they overwhelmed BSC Young Boys 6-1 in the play-offs, they have since lost to FC Barcelona (1-2) and drawn with Celtic FC (1-1), surrendering a first-half lead both times.

• The Bundesliga club's home record against English opposition is W4 D1 L1.

• Their last victory over an English side came 20 years ago when they beat Arsenal FC home and away in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup first round (3-2 a, 3-2 h).

• Gladbach lost two finals against Liverpool FC in the 1970s – the 1973 UEFA Cup final (0-3 a, 2-0 h) and the 1977 European Champion Clubs' Cup final (1-3 in Rome).

Manchester City
• City are looking for their first away victory in Group D, following a draw at Celtic (3-3) and defeat at Barcelona (0-4).

• Including the 5-0 play-off win at FC Steaua Bucureşti, their away matches in Europe this season have produced an average of five goals per game so far.

• City's record away to Bundesliga opposition is W3 D0 L6.

• Vincent Kompany is the only survivor of City's first victory in Germany – 2-0 at FC Schalke 04 in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage.

Coach and player links
• Josep Guardiola's first match in charge of FC Bayern München was a 3-1 home victory against Gladbach in August 2013. However, his Bayern side failed to beat Gladbach in each of the last two campaigns. Last season they lost 3-1 in Monchengladbach – Oscar Wendt, Stindl and Fabian Johnson scoring – and drew 1-1 at home. In 2014/15, Gladbach held Bayern 0-0 at home and won 2-0 in Munich through a Raffael double.

• Playing for Nürnberg and Borussia Dortmund, İlkay Gündoğan won four and lost just one of eight matches against Gladbach. In January this year he scored past Yann Sommer to complete a 3-1 Dortmund victory in Monchengladbach.

• Kevin De Bruyne lost just one of five Bundesliga outings against Gladbach for Werder Bremen and VfL Wolfsburg, which included a goal in a 3-1 Wolfsburg home victory in May 2014.

• With FC Schalke 04, Leroy Sané beat Gladbach 2-1 at home in last season's Bundesliga, but lost 3-1 away.

• Yann Sommer kept a clean sheet for Switzerland against Bacary Sagna's France in a 0-0 UEFA EURO 2016 group stage draw.

• De Bruyne scored in Belgium's 2-1 win against Johnson's United States in the round of 16 at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

• International team-mates:
Gündoğan, Sané &, Christoph Kramer, Herrmann (Germany)
De Bruyne, Kompany & Thorgan Hazard (Belgium)

Match facts

Mönchengladbach
• Kramer and Korb are serving one-match bans.

• Though the Foals scored for the first time in six Bundesliga fixtures on Saturday, they nevertheless lost 2-1 to 1. FC Köln.

• Kramer was sent off in the first half as Gladbach lost 3-0 at Hertha BSC Berlin on 5 November. Patrick Herrmann tore ligaments in his right ankle in that match and will be out for the rest of the year.

• Marvin Schulz (hip flexor), who is yet to play this season, resumed individual training on 14 November.

• Mamadou Doucouré's debut for Gladbach will have to wait until 2017 because of a long-term thigh injury.

• A new pitch was laid at Borussia-Park during the international break.

Manchester City
• Sterling will incur a suspension with his next booking.

• City have kept just one clean sheet in their last 12 matches in all competitions.

• Yaya Touré, making his first Premier League appearance of the season, scored both City goals in their 2-1 win at Crystal Palace FC on Saturday.

• Agüero's goal in the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough FC on 5 November was his 150th for the club.

• Agüero and De Bruyne are on the 23-man shortlist for the Best FIFA Men's Player 2016 award, the winner of which is announced on 9 January.