When Borussia Mönchengladbach were revealed as Manchester City’s next challengers in the Champions League, it might have been seen as a potential easy draw.
After all, the pair already met back in the 2016-17 season, and while the Germans held Pep Guardiola’s men to a draw when playing at home, they were dismantled 4-0 in the away fixture.
However, this is a very different Gladbach side to the one Manchester City faced four years ago, now capable of holding their own against some of the best teams in the world on their day.
Take their group stage in the Champions League this season, for example, as they came second in a group comprised of Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Inter.
Speaking after the draw, he said, relayed by Kicker: “From a sporting point of view, it didn’t matter who we got. Manchester City is a super exciting draw, we’ve already had them twice in the group stages. We deserved to progress in a complicated group. City won’t scream hurray. We want to try and beat them with a little more strength and confidence than in the last game against Real Madrid”.
This was echoed by Stefan Lainer, who called Manchester City ‘an absolute top team with one of the world’s best coaches’, with the draw ‘a very interesting task’ for the Bundesliga club that will ‘demand everything’ from their team.
As for midfielder Jonas Hofmann, he said: “It’s a big draw. Manchester City are one of the toughest teams we could meet. If we have a very good day, a lot is possible for us”.
