adminMANCHESTER. — Beaten and bruised, Manchester City entertain a revitalised Borussia Moenchengladbach tonight looking for a restorative victory that could yet yield a first-place finish in Champions League soccer’s Group D.
The match kicks-off at 9:45pm.
City conceded top spot in the English Premier League following a 2-0 defeat at Stoke City on Saturday and must now contend with a Gladbach team revelling in the feat of becoming the first team to defeat Bayern Munich in this season’s German Bundesliga.
City must win and hope that group leaders Juventus lose away to Sevilla if they are to finish first in the group, but with a place in the last 16 already secure and a glut of injuries to occupy his thoughts, manager Manuel Pellegrini is not putting any pressure on his players.
“A lot of people were disappointed not to be top of the group, but it is not finished,” said Pellegrini, whose side lost 1-0 at Juventus in their previous group fixture.
“We have to play one game more and Juventus have to go to Sevilla. Sevilla are fighting for the Europa League and we play here against Borussia. If you ask me, I prefer to be qualified.
“We are supposing that if we finish second we will have a bad draw, but maybe this year we can have a bad draw if we finish top of the group. There are a lot of things in the future we are not thinking about.”
City were deservedly beaten at the Britannia Stadium, where a slick Stoke side prevailed courtesy of an early Marko Arnautovic brace and could conceivably have won more comfortably.
The visitors’ disappointment was compounded when Fernando limped off with a hamstring injury late on, exacerbating the injury glut that has ripped the core from Pellegrini’s team.
Centre-back and captain Vincent Kompany, midfielder Yaya Toure and attacking figurehead Sergio Aguero are all expected to miss tonight’s game at the Etihad Stadium, while Pablo Zabaleta and Samir Nasri remain sidelined. — AFP.
Online Reporter