David Silva strike secures Manchester City’s place in last 16

Yaya Toure was initially frozen out by Pep Guardiola, but could he now be given a new crucial role in the Spaniard’s tactics at Manchester City?

Man City will face one of the winners of the other groups in the Round of 16, as they are in line to finish second in Group C. The list now includes AS Monaco, Borussia Dortmund, PSG and Juventus, and one of Besiktas, Benfica and Napoli, who could each potentially win Group B.

“Today he has training at four o’clock and we will know exactly his condition and the condition of the other players”.

“Everybody is droppable”, Guardiola said. “Big congratulations to my team”.

“We’ve had our fair share of them over my time here, and even this season”. After Borussia’s goal the game was not in our hands and it changed a little bit.

The hosts need to bounce back from their dismal performance at the Hawthorns where they were beaten 4-0 by West Brom on Monday night.

City controlled possession but Gladbach took an early lead before David Silva levelled on the stroke of halftime.

The second half became disjointed as Gladbach’s Lars Stindl and City’s Fernandinho were sent off in quick succession, but Barcelona’s victory over Celtic at Parkhead means City are through to the last 16 as runner-up in Group C behind the La Liga champion.

Former Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan threatened an equaliser 10 minutes before the interval as he collected Silva’s flighted corner 18 yards out, only for his effort to be palmed behind by Switzerland stopper Yann Sommer.

“We didn’t have players and he played incredible”, Guardiola said.

“It is definitely not easy to beat them, especially at their home with the crowd and the supporters”. The most important thing is to help the team, and to also help the manager, who is very, very intelligent, very strong tactically.

Following the sending-off, City produced waves of attack, but their one-man advantage did not last long as Fernandinho was also shown his marching orders for appearing to pull back his opponent. I was a trainer here in Germany and I know how hard Gladbach are.

Sean Dyche will be disappointed with the manor they lost their last game.

“It’s about what we do, our format and delivering performance”. We will try to go on like that.

And he says he will rotate his squad over of a period that sees City face title rivals Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool before the start of the new year.

The Belgian worldwide established himself as a leader for City and one of the finest centre-halves in Europe, but his constant injury problems have now tested Guardiola’s patience one too many times.