Manchester City Through To The Last 16 Of The Champions League

Manchester City are through to the last 16 of the Champions League after Pep Guardiola rolled out the full gamut of tactical tweaks in an innovative 1-1 draw at Borussia Monchengladbach.

Guardiola is no stranger to switching his team around according to circumstance but he was especially creative on his return to Germany, playing at least four different defensive lines (one of which looked like a diamond), using four different right-backs (including Nicolas Otamendi and Kevin De Bruyne) and asking the versatile Fernandinho to tie everything together, whether as a midfielder, centre-back or something between the two.

In truth, Guardiola probably caused a little too much confusion early on after vowing to start with a “fluid” system that would, it was hoped, switch effortlessly between a back three and a back four.

But, in reality, City’s own players looked as baffled as anybody and Gladbach deservedly took the lead when Raffael fired home.

Guardiola went back to a four-man defensive line after that but his side’s passing was often sloppy and played into the hosts’ hands.

Gladbach, who have gone toe to toe with Guardiola’s Bayern Munich teams over the years, elected to sit back and wait for City to surrender possession, and could have increased their advantage by the time David Silva grabbed the crucial equaliser just before the break.

Silva’s goal, following a fine move which would prove to be City’s best of the match, settled the visitors down and allowed them to take control of the game after half-time.

The Blues looked far happier with Guardiola’s demands, even when the hybrid back-three/four morphed into a back-three/four/five, with Fernandinho dropping back and stepping forward, Otamendi covering as a right-back, and Jesus Navas occasionally providing extra support.

City were afforded more space in which to get to grips with their instructions when Lars Stindl was sent off, but when Fernandinho also saw red - seemingly for walking past Raffael - it was time for another reshuffle, with Bacary Sagna entering the fray.