Mönchengladbach vs Manchester City: UEFA Champions League background, form guide, previous meetings

Borussia Mönchengladbach's first foray into the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds brings a tie against a Manchester City team who have plenty of round of 16 experience on their side.

• While City eased into the last 16 as Group C winners, recording five victories in their six matches and conceding only one goal, Gladbach finished second behind Real Madrid in a tight Group B to reach the knockout stages for the first time in only their third campaign in the UEFA Champions League proper.

• City are in the round of 16 for the eighth season running and have won their last three ties at this stage; in contrast this is Mönchengladbach's first European Cup knockout tie, outside qualifying, in over 40 years.

• This first leg is taking place at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest.

Previous meetings
• Mönchengladbach and City met in the UEFA Champions League group stage in both 2015/16 and 2016/17, the English club winning three of those four fixtures – although the most recent, on Matchday 5 in the latter campaign, ended in a 1-1 draw in Germany with Raffael's opener cancelled out by David Silva in first-half added time.

• Sergio Agüero's hat-trick had helped City to a 4-0 win at home to Mönchengladbach on Matchday 1 of that 2016/17 season. Josep Guardiola's side went on to finish second behind Barcelona with nine points, four ahead of André Schubert's Mönchengladbach who finished third.

• City won 2-1 in Mönchengladbach on 30 September 2015. After Joe Hart's first-half penalty save from Raffael, Gladbach scored through Lars Stindl but City responded through Martín Demichelis and Agüero's last-minute penalty.

• City fought back once more to consign Gladbach to a fourth-placed finish in the group when beating them 4-2 on Matchday 6. 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, Raheem Sterling (twice) and Wilfried Bony ensuring they won the section.

• The teams' only previous knockout tie came in the 1978/79 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, Mönchengladbach winning 4-2 on aggregate (1-1 a, 3-1 h) en route to lifting the trophy. Ewald Lienen cancelled out Mick Channon's goal in the first leg at Maine Road and Gladbach won the return 3-1 thanks to goals by Christian Kulik, Hans-Günter Bruns and Karl Del'Haye. Kazimierz Deyna scored for City.

Form guide
Mönchengladbach
• This season, the German club conceded late goals to draw each of their first two fixtures 2-2, shipping a 90th-minute equaliser at Internazionale before drawing at home to Real Madrid, a match in which they had led 2-0 until the 87th minute. Gladbach then stormed to the top of Group B with a 6-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk, Alassane Pléa scoring a hat-trick in his club's record away UEFA Champions League victory; their biggest home success followed on Matchday 4 with a 4-0 defeat of the Ukrainian side at Borussia-Park, and that proved enough for second place despite subsequent defeats at home to Inter (2-3) and in Madrid (0-2).

• This is Mönchengladbach's third UEFA Champions League appearance, both previous participations – in 2015/16 and 2016/17 – ending in group stage elimination. Fourth in their debut campaign, the German club finished third 12 months later.

• Mönchengladbach took part in the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2019/20, finishing third behind İstanbul Başakşehir and Roma in their section. Marco Rose's side picked up eight points (W2 D2 L2) from their six fixtures.

• The Foals have won four of their last nine European games (D2 L3) but only five of the last 19 (D8 L6).

• This is only Mönchengladbach's second game in Budapest and Hungary, following a 3-0 win against local side Vasas in the 1977/78 European Cup first round first leg at the Népstadion, which was demolished in 2016 to make way for the new Puskás Aréna.

• The German club have faced English opponents at a neutral venue only once previously, a 3-1 loss to Liverpool in the 1977 European Cup final at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.

• Mönchengladbach are one of two teams making their first round of 16 appearance this season, along with Lazio.

• Although Mönchengladbach took part in the UEFA Champions League play-offs in 2012/13, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Dynamo Kyiv, this is their first knockout tie in the European Cup proper since a 4-2 loss over two legs against Liverpool in the 1977/78 semi-finals (2-1 h, 0-3 a).

• Gladbach lost their first three two-legged knockout ties against English clubs but have been victorious in the last two, most recently beating Arsenal in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup first round having won both matches 3-2.

• The German club have twice lost European finals to English clubs, both against Liverpool; in the 1972/73 UEFA Cup (2-3 aggregate) and the European Cup four years later.

• Mönchengladbach's only European meetings with Premier League opponents since 1996 have been those four games against City.

Manchester City
• City scored three goals in each of their first three Group C victories this season, beating Porto (3-1), Marseille and Olympiacos (both 3-0) before a 1-0 win in Greece on Matchday 4 secured progress. A goalless draw in Porto in their penultimate fixture confirmed City in first place before a closing 3-0 win at home to Marseille.

• It is 526 minutes since City conceded a UEFA Champions League goal, Luis Díaz's 14th-minute opener for Porto on Matchday 1.

• City finished second in the 2019/20 Premier League and bowed out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage for the third season running, going down 3-1 against Lyon in their one-off tie in Lisbon.

• City had finished first in their group with 14 points (W4 D2) before seeing off Real Madrid in the last 16, winning 2-1 away and at home against the 13-time European champions.

• This is the Cityzens' tenth UEFA Champions League campaign; they have been involved every season since 2011/12.

• City have scored 48 goals in their last 19 UEFA Champions League matches; over the last three seasons their record is W18 D4 L3 with 64 goals scored and 22 conceded.

• Guardiola's team have won nine of their last 14 away European matches (D3 L2), both defeats coming in England; the last away game they lost abroad was at Shakhtar Donetsk (1-2) on Matchday 6 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League.

• City's best UEFA Champions League performance was reaching the 2015/16 semi-finals.

• City have featured in the round of 16 every season from 2013/14 onwards. Their record at this stage is W4 L3; last season's win against Madrid was their third successive last-16 victory.

• The Manchester club have won their last three away games in the round of 16, and four of their seven at this stage overall (L3). Each time they have won away they have qualified and each time they have lost away they have gone out.

• City have already faced German opponents in the UEFA Champions League round of 16, beating Schalke 10-2 on aggregate in the 2018/19 edition. A 7-0 home win in that second leg is the club's record victory in UEFA club competition.

• That aggregate win against Schalke made City's record in two-legged ties against German clubs W2 L2. They had also beaten the Gelsenkirchen side in the semi-finals of their victorious European Cup Winners' Cup campaign in 1969/70; they lost in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals to Mönchengladbach in 1978/79 and Hamburg 30 years later.

• The 1-1 draw in Mönchengladbach in November 2016 is the only one of City's last nine matches against German clubs they have failed to win, stretching back to a 1-0 loss at Bayern München in September 2014.

• This is City's first game against a German club on neutral territory. Like Mönchengladbach, they have played only once previously in Hungary, a 1-0 win at Budapest Honvéd in the 1970/71 European Cup Winners' Cup second round first leg at the Bozsik József Stadion.

Links and trivia
• Have played in Germany:
İlkay Gündoğan (Bochum 2005–09, Nürnberg 2009–11, Borussia Dortmund 2011–16)
Kevin De Bruyne (Werder Bremen 2012/13 loan, Wolfsburg 2014–15)

• Has played in England:
Valentino Lazaro (Newcastle United 2020 loan)

• International team-mates:
Matthias Ginter, Christoph Kramer, Jonas Hofmann, Lars Stindl, Florian Neuhaus & İlkay Gündoğan (Germany)
Ramy Bensebaini & Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)
Alassane Pléa, Marcus Thuram & Benjamin Mendy (France)

• Have played together:
Jonas Hofmann & İlkay Gündoğan (Borussia Dortmund 2011–14, 2015/16)
Matthias Ginter & İlkay Gündoğan (Borussia Dortmund 2014–16)
Max Grün & Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg 2014–15)

• De Bruyne scored in Wolfsburg's 3-1 win against Mönchengladbach on the final day of the 2013/14 Bundesliga season; Christoph Kramer got the goal for Mönchengladbach, whose side also included Patrick Hermann, Toni Jantschke and Oscar Wendt.

• Agüero was on target in Argentina's 4-2 friendly win against a Germany side including Kramer and Ginter on 3 September 2014.

• Gabriel Jesus got the only goal as Brazil beat Germany in a Berlin friendly on 27 March 2018; Stindl was a substitute for the home side.

• Oleksandr Zinchenko's goal past Yann Sommer earned Ukraine a 2-1 UEFA Nations League win against Switzerland on 3 September 2020; Nico Elvedi and Breel Embolo were also on the losing side in Lviv.

Latest news

Mönchengladbach
• UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: Julio Villalba
Out: László Bénes (Augsburg, loan)

• Gladbach have won only six of their 14 matches in all competitions since Matchday 6 (D5 L3).

• Their three defeats have all been by a 2-1 scoreline at home – against Hoffenheim on 19 December, Köln on 6 February and Mainz on Saturday.

• After 22 Bundesliga matchdays Gladbach have amassed 33 points – ten less than at the same stage of last season.

• On 2 March Gladbach will host Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup quarter-finals after winning 5-0 at fourth-tier Elversberg on 22 December and 2-1 in Stuttgart on 3 February.

• Nico Elvedi scored Gladbach's winner in a 1-0 defeat of Werder Bremen on 19 January before adding two more in a 4-2 win against Dortmund three days later.

• Denis Zakaria scored his first goal for Gladbach since 27 October 2019 in a 2-2 draw in Stuttgart on 16 January.

• Gladbach recovered from two goals down to beat Bayern München 3-2 on 8 January, Jonas Hofmann scoring twice and Florian Neuhaus once.

• Lars Stindl scored all three Gladbach goals in a 3-3 draw in Frankfurt on 15 December.

• Julio Villalba scored his first goal for Gladbach from the penalty spot on his club debut in Elversberg.

• Zakaria and Marcus Thuram both missed the goalless draw in Wolfsburg on 14 February due to knee problems, returning as substitutes on Saturday.

• Mamadou Doucouré has been sidelined since December because of muscular problems.

• On 15 February Gladbach announced that coach Marco Rose will leave the club to join Dortmund at the end of the season.

• Stindl and Tony Jantschke have both signed new contracts until 2023.

Manchester City
• UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: None
Out: Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Blackburn, loan), Cieran Slicker

• City drew their first two games after Matchday 6, but have won their last 18 in all competitions including Sunday's 1-0 victory at Arsenal.

• That run has taken Josep Guardiola's side to the top of the Premier League with a ten-point lead; they were seventh, six points off the pace, on Matchday 6.

• City have not trailed for a single minute in their last 17 Premier League fixtures.

• İlkay Gündoğan has scored 11 goals in his last 13 Premier League appearances.

• City have won their last 11 away games in all competitions, equalling the record for an English top-flight team that they set between May and November 2017.

• City have also reached the English League Cup for the fourth year in a row – and the sixth time in eight seasons – with wins away to Arsenal in the quarter-finals (4-1) and Manchester United in the semis (2-0). City, who have won the trophy three years running, will play Tottenham at Wembley on 25 April.

• Guardiola's side are also into the FA Cup quarter-finals thanks to a 3-0 home win against Birmingham and 3-1 successes at Cheltenham and Swansea. They will visit Everton in the last eight on 20 March.

• The Cityzens are unbeaten in their last 25 games in all competitions (W22 D3), since a 2-0 Premier League loss at Tottenham on 21 November.

• Sergio Agüero has been restricted to two Premier League starts this season due to knee and hamstring problems, and has not played since 2 January due to illness although he was on the bench in the 3-0 win against Tottenham on 13 February, the 3-1 win at Everton four days later and Sunday's win at Arsenal.

• Kevin De Bruyne returned as a late substitute at Everton on 17 February after being sidelined by a hamstring problem since the 2-0 home win against Aston Villa on 20 January.

• Gündoğan missed the Everton game with a groin injury but was back in the starting XI at Arsenal.

• Fernandinho came on late in the win at Everton having missed City's previous two games with a knock.

• Nathan Aké has not played since 26 December due to a hamstring injury.

• On 5 January Colin Bell – who made 501 appearances for City between 1966 and 1979, winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970, the English league title in 1968, the FA Cup the following year and the League Cup in 1976 – died aged 74. In 2004, the club's fans voted to name one of the stands at the City of Manchester Stadium in his honour.

• De Bruyne was included in the UEFA.com fans' Men's Team of the Year 2020.