Guardiola congratulates City for battling through

Despite conceding early, David Silva’s late first-half equaliser salvaged a point for Manchester City in Group C. “In the last 16, all the teams will be tough”, explained Guardiola.

After dropping points against Celtic and the heavy defeat at the Camp Nou, the main objective for Pep Guardiola was to advance through the group stages as rapidly as possible.

Despite having won just once in their previous six home games, Gladbach’s spirited performance at Borussia Park caused City plenty of problems. “It was much better than losing and it was so, so important at this moment”.

Turf Moor is a tight little ground and not an easy place to visit and Manchester City will not relish it. Pep often makes changes following Champions League matches so expect to see some fresh faces in the side.

Asked if Toure could even feature in defence because of captain Vincent Kompany’s continuing fitness problems, Guardiola said: “Yaya can play in many positions but I think we have other options to play as central defenders. We can not forget they beat Liverpool, they lost in the 93rd minute against Arsenal and they draw at Old Trafford”, he told reporters.

“Overall, we are very happy with the third place”, said Schubert. Sergio Aguero should have equalized when he shot too close to Sommer, but there was still time before the break for Silva to poke home Kevin De Bruyne’s cross from close range after Raheem Sterling sent the Belgian through on the right.

He added: “I said a couple of times, Messi will stay in Barcelona and he will finish his career in Barcelona”. “Tonight we controlled our results”. I was a trainer here in Germany and know how hard Gladbach are. You have to be so so happy because big important teams in Europe won’t be in the next round.

Still, a short turnaround after their European exploits could cause problems for City, who lost 1-0 on their last league visit to Turf Moor in March a year ago.

“I’m so satisfied from all the games and of course I was a manager here in Germany and know how hard they [Monchengladbach] are to beat, but we did it”. After eight games in the Champions League being there with top teams like Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham is good – and of course with Manchester United, because United are getting better in their last games so are now a real contender to win the Premier League.

Fabian Delph’s homegrown status is likely to spare him the axe from Manchester City’s revised Champions League squad in January.