“Weren’t brave enough” - Man City match reaction

We gathered the thoughts from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 2-0 first-leg defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night.

Lars Stindl: We had to work incredibly hard defensively against a quality side and had to chase the ball a lot. We weren’t brave enough in possession and made some simple errors. There was a phase just after the break where we could have done more with the positions we got into, but it wasn’t to be. We were chasing the game a lot and so I think you have to say it’s a deserved result.

Florian Neuhaus: City were very good on the ball and we were left chasing them. We had the odd counterattacking opportunity, but we didn’t work them well enough. I think we deserved to lose 2-0. It’s unfortunate that we conceded from two crosses from deep, as it’s something we talked about beforehand. It was a very tactical match with few clear-cut chances. We knew that we would need to be full of running against City and I don’t think you could say we were slouches today. We had some good moments on the ball, but we need to be more courageous in the second leg.

Marco Rose: We were up against a top side and we fought hard. We wanted to be brave in possession and play out of the back, but that led to a number of turnovers. We didn’t get at their defence enough in the first half in particular, but we defended well and didn’t give them many chances. There were a couple of moments where we’d made the run behind, but the ball wasn’t accurate enough. I think we could have posed more of a threat from those opportunities. Nevertheless, it’s incredibly difficult up against this City side; you have to do a lot of defending. We should have done more to stop the crosses that led to the goals. Every pass and every run has to be spot on to score goals against a side like them.

Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola: It wasn’t our best performance, but I’m certainly not going to complain. It was a good game overall and the first step towards reaching the quarterfinals. Gladbach have a good side and managed to keep things tight through the middle. Our counterpress was good, but I wasn’t happy with our one-on-ones and our final ball in behind; we can do better. We had a lot of possession, but we struggled a little in the final third, so it’s even more important that we were clinical with our chances.