Tag Archives: UEFA

The 2020s: Victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach

On this day (16 March) in 2021 City faced Monchengladbach in the second leg of this Champions League round of 16 tie. They had won the first leg 2-0 and went on to match that scoreline in this second leg. Due to Covid restrictions both legs of this tie were played at the Puskas Arena in Budapest and so this game enters the record books as one of the few home games not played in Manchester by the Blues.

City started the game without a recognised centre forward as both Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero were on the bench, but Pep Guardiola’s side were in control from the start. The German team were unable to cope with City’s quality, passing, creativity and movement.

The opening goal came when Kevin De Bruyne scored a wonderful 20 yard left footed strike after only twelve minutes. This was the 100th goal scored by City in all competitions this season. Six minutes later Ilkay Gundogan slotted the ball past the Monchengladbach ‘keeper following a great run and pass from Phil Foden.

Pep Guardiola enjoyed the victory: ‘It was a good performance; we controlled the game from the beginning. Players like Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva have a lot of quality, they help us a lot, but everyone was so committed and we’re delighted to be in the next stage. We now have everybody fit. That’s why we can rotate six or seven players. If you want to compete for competitions, you have to be fresh. The seasons are so long, we haven’t had one long week [off] since October.’

Post match the statisticians enjoyed highlighting a variety of City achievements. These included a couple of odd facts such as: Half of Monchengladbach’s defeats (5 out of 10) in the Champions League have been by City. City were also one of one three teams (AC Milan & Arsenal) to have kept seven consecutive clean sheets in the competition’s history.

Match Stats

16 March 2021

Manchester City 2 (De Bruyne & Gundogan) Borussia Monchengladbach 0

Attendance 0 (Covid restrictions)

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Manchester City 3 RB Salzburg 0

On this day (1 December) in 2010 City defeated Salzburg in the UEFA Europa League. It was a great night for Balotelli who scored twice. Subscribers can read about that game below:

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Manchester City 3 Leipzig 2

Today (28 November) in 2023 City came back from being 2-0 down to win 3-2 against RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League. You can see highlights here: https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-rb-leipzig-highlights-63836808 The victory meant that City won the group.

City’s scorers were Haaland, Foden and Alvarez.

Manchester City Through to Last 16

On this day (25 November) in 2020 City defeated Olympiakos in the UEFA Champions League to progress to the last 16. Subscribers can read about that game below:

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Manchester City 3 Young Boys 0

On this day (7 November) in 2023 Manchester City defeated Young Boys 3-0 in the UEFA Champions League. This was recorded as City’s 100th win in major European competitions (don’t get me started on whether a win on penalties is counted as a win in sequence records!) and extended the club’s unbeaten run in Europe to 18 matches (this was a new record for English teams).

You can see film of the game here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/city-3-0-young-boys-highlights-63834993

The City scorers were Haaland (2) and Foden.

Villareal 0 Manchester City 3

On this day (2 November) in 2011 Manchester City defeated Villareal with goals from Yaya Toure (2) and Mario Balotelli (penalty; photograph) You can watch highlights below:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2011/november/villarreal-v-city-60-sec-highlights

Champions League Draw 2025-26

Today’s Champions League draw has produced the following fixtures for Manchester City: Borussia Dortmund (H), Real Madrid (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), Villarreal (A), Napoli (H), Bodo/Glimt (A), Galatasaray (H), Monaco (A).

Home in Barnsley

On this day (31 July) in 2008 Manchester City played a home game at Barnsley. This game made history as it was the first occasion the Blues had played a home European tie outside of Manchester.  Previously City had played home European games at Maine Road and at the City Of Manchester Stadium, but work at Eastlands following a concert by Bon Jovi prevented the Club from staging the game at home.  The decision was taken to stage the match at Barnsley.  Subscribers can read about both legs of the European tie here:

MANCHESTER CITY IN EUROPE – 2008-09 v EB Streymur (at home in Barnsley!)

Juventus & MCFC

Tonight it’s Juventus v Manchester City and here’s a report (& film) of Manchester City beating Juventus in their first competitive meeting. It was played on 15 September 1976. That day Brian Kidd scored the only goal (a header) and you can see that goal here:

The match report expresses the disappointment City felt at only taking a 1-0 lead to Italy for the 2nd leg.

Here’s a photo from the game. Notice anything odd? Follow the link after the photo for the story.

Maine Road 100 – Day 24

Subscribers can read more about the game here:

On This Day in 1976: Juventus

Milan 2 Manchester City 2

I love this photo of Dave Watson. He’s looking at the flowers as if to say: ‘What the XXXXXXXXX are they? We’re playing football!’ I’ve posted it today because that photo was taken on this day (November 23) in 1978. Manchester City drew 2-2 with Milan at the San Siro and here is a 1100 word piece plus rare colour photos from that highly significant UEFA Cup game (which should have been played a day earlier – details below).

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If you’d like to read more about 1978-79, here’s a 5,700 word article on the entire season – a season which saw City mount a UEFA Cup challenge and a former hero return (if only he hadn’t!). My article, like the other indepth pieces, contains material from interviews I have performed with many of the key figures – chairman, managers, players and others. You can read this below.

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