Borussia Monchengladbach 0, Man City 2 (Champions League Round of 16, 1st Leg)
Goals by Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus saw Manchester City suffocate a passive Borussia Monchengladbach in Budapest.
Embed from Getty ImagesJoao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva were the key men in both goals, with Cancelo providing for Bernardo Silva in the first half before doing it again in the second half only for Silva to lay the ball on a plate for Gabriel Jesus.
So proficient were the Blues that the Germans didn’t even attempt a shot on goal until the 63rd minute and Ederson didn’t have a shot to save as City mesmerised them with their movement and notched up over 10 hours in Champions League football without conceding a goal.
The easy victory meant that City had recorded a club record 12th straight away win in all competitions (also a top flight English record) alongside their 19th consecutive win in a row.
The 2-0 win keeps the Germans in with a chance but on current form it has to be a slim one.
Nathan Ake was the only absentee from a strong Manchester City squad which again featured Sergio Aguero.
There were 5 changes from the side that cruised to victory over Arsenal at the weekend.
John Stones, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, and Riyad Mahrez were rested while Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, Phil Foden, and Gabriel Jesus came into the side.
Laporte was making his 100th appearance for City in their ‘away leg’ in Hungary against their German opponents who were in the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time.
City started well, predictably dominating the ball with Raheem Sterling probing, and Yann Sommer saving from Foden early on.
City began squeezing errors from the Germans who managed to recover well and keep chances to a minimum with one heart stopping sequence in the 16th minute seeing City thwarted three times as they tried to carve the Foals open with their majority of possession.
Runs by Alassane Plea and Stefan Lainer could have caused City problems after Monchengladbach tried to take the game to City after a difficult first few minutes but this City side are defensively strong as well as lightning on the front foot.
Sterling had a shout for a penalty turned down and VAR confirmed that the defender got a touch on the ball.
Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva axis produces another win for record breaking Manchester City
But the repressive didn’t last long as Cancelo’s each of a cross from the left found Bernardo Silva for a header from 7 yards out which finally breached Yann Sommer’s goal for his 5th goal of the season after 29 minutes.
Monchengladbach were having trouble keeping tabs on Cancelo, and the Portuguese full back had a chance to double the City lead but his long range shot was comfortably high and wide – like Foden was with a cut in and shot from the right which sailed over the bar.
City were looking for a work of art of a goal – they came close in the first half and pushed Monchengladbach hard early after the break.
Foden was eased off the ball as he looked to dribble into the Sommer’s area while Jesus almost profited from a sloppy back pass from Ramy Bensebaini but Nico Elvedi got back in time to dispossess the Brazilian who hesitated on the ball while sizing up a shot.
Matthias Ginter had already denied City a wonderful team goal in the first half but his team mates were singularly unable to raise themselves to take on City as they barely made it out of their own half.
And the few times they got the ball into a dangerous area the final ball let them down and Ederson came out to sweep up the danger.
Their first chance came after 63 minutes, a ball across the area was back heeled by Plea and the ball bounced harmless past the back post.
This was the signal for Marcus Thuram and Valentino Lazaro to come on for Plea and Lainer.
But City doubled their lead 2 minutes later when Cancelo’s cross was flicked back across the 6 yard box by Silva where Jesus reacted first and stabbed the ball home from 5 yards – his 9th goal of the season.
The goal also meant that Jesus continued his record of scoring in every appearance in a Champions League match this term.
City’s first change saw Riyad Mahrez replace Sterling with 21 minutes to go as City started to coast.
Breel Embolo came on for Lars Stindl for the last 16 minutes but Mahrez’ surprisingly poor first touch denied him a great chance to run on goal as City kept picking off the Germans’ sloppy passing.
Foden swept another chance over the bar after Gundogan knocked down another Cancelo cross for him.
Ferran Torres and Aguero game on for the last 10 minutes, replacing Foden and Jesus as they looked to rest more players.
Mahrez shot straight at Sommer after a clever flick by Aguero as they continued to press the Germans into errors.
The Germans finally gambled on a quicker attack with Jonas Hofman going down in the City area after a collision with Cancelo – VAR didn’t overturn the referee’s decision to deny the penalty claim after replays didn’t show sufficient contact.
Hofmann went off injured after the coming together to be replaced by Hannes Wolf but there was nothing that the Germans could do to change their fate despite finally forcing Ederson to make a save with the last kick of the game through Wolf.
GOALS – Borussia Monchengladbach 0, Man City 2 (Champions League Round of 16, 1st Leg)
Borussia Monchengladbach 0, Manchester City 1: 29. Bernardo Silva with a header that fell beyond Yann Sommer’s grasp after Silva met Joao Cancelo’s well placed cross from the left after he cut inside on his right foot.
Borussia Monchengladbach 0, Manchester City 2: 65. Gabriel Jesus reacted quickest to stab home the ball as it went across the 6 yard box after Joao Cancelo’s left wing cross once again found Bernardo Silva but the midfielder elected to head across the face of goal where the Brazilian was waiting.
MATCH STATS – Borussia Monchengladbach 0, Man City 2 (Champions League Round of 16, 1st Leg)
Borussia Monchengladbach: Sommer, Elvedi, Zakaria, Ginter, Lainer (Lazaro 63), Neuhaus, Kramer, Hofmann (Wolf 87), Bensebaini, Plea (Thuram 63), Stindl (C) (Embolo 74)
Borussia Monchengladbach subs not used: Sippel, Grun, Lang, Herrmann, Beyer, Traore, Wendt, Jantschke
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo, Gundogan, Rodri, Foden (Torres 80), Sterling (C) (Mahrez 69), Bernardo Silva, Jesus (Aguero 80)
Man City subs not used: Steffen, Carson, Stones, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Mendy, Fernandinho, Garcia, Doyle
Goals: Bernardo Silva 29; Jesus 65
Referee: Artur Dias Soares