City too strong as Foals exit Champions League

Tuesday night saw Borussia Mönchengladbach’s UEFA Champions League journey come to an end in the last 16 after another 2-0 defeat to Manchester City (4-0 agg.).

Borussia started courageously at the Puskás Aréna, pressing City high up the pitch and forcing some early turnovers. The same could be said of their opponents, however, and Pep Guardiola’s side soon began to dominate possession and force the Foals deeper inside their half. It took a special strike to open the scoring though, with a Kevin De Bruyne rocket clipping the underside of the crossbar on its way past a helpless Yann Sommer (13’). A quick break forward then produced a second goal for the home side just five minutes later, with Phil Foden putting Ilkay Gündogan through one-on-one and the German applying a smart finish. Breel Embolo fired a shot just wide of the post shortly before the break (39’), but otherwise it was a half completely controlled by Man City.

The second 45 continued in the same vein, with Borussia struggling to play through the City press and chasing the game. Sommer had to be on hand to make a couple of saves against Riyad Mahrez (66’, 68’), but the Premier League leaders were generally content to simply move the ball around. The closest the Foals came to grabbing a consolation goal were shots from substitutes Hannes Wolf (77’) and Ibrahima Traoré (85’), but neither were able to test Ederson. With the final scoreline a repeat of the first leg, Borussia bow out of the UEFA Champions League in the last 16 after a 4-0 aggregate defeat.

TEAM NEWS

Marco Rose made three changes to the team that travelled to Augsburg on Friday night, with Ramy Bensebaini, Denis Zakaria and Breel Embolo all coming in for Oscar Wendt, Valentino Lazaro and Alassane Plea.

The only players who stayed behind in Mönchengladbach through injury were Torben Müsel and Julio Villalba, with Christoph Kramer and Bensebaini both recovering in time.

MATCH FACTS

Manchester City: Ederson – Walker, Stones, Ruben Dias (70’ Laporte), Joao Cancelo (63’ Zinchenko) – Rodrigo (63’ Fernandinho), Bernardo Silva (75’ Aguero), Gündogan (70’ Sterling) – Mahrez, De Bruyne, Foden

Borussia: Sommer – Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi (88’ Jantschke), Bensebaini (88’ Wendt) – Zakaria, Neuhaus – Hofmann, Stindl (81’ Traoré), Thuram (65‘ Wolf) – Embolo (65’ Plea)

Goals: 1-0 de Bruyne (13’), 2-0 Gündogan (18’)

Yellow cards: Joao Cancelo, Fernandinho – Lainer

Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)

Attendance: 0