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City and Gladbach staying focused to the last

Manchester City FC have not given up on first place in Group D, while VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach are hoping to cling on to third when the teams meet on matchday six.

Lars Stindl tussles with Martín Demichelis during City's 2-1 win in Germany in September
Lars Stindl tussles with Martín Demichelis during City's 2-1 win in Germany in September ©Getty Images

Manchester City FC and VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach both still have unfinished business in Group D when they meet in their final fixture on matchday six.

• City have qualified for the last 16 but after losing 1-0 at Juventus last time out, Manuel Pellegrini's men need to beat Mönchengladbach and hope for a Juve defeat at Sevilla FC in order to snatch first place.

• As for André Schubert's Gladbach, they sit third after beating Sevilla 4-2 on matchday five and have their sights set on entry into the UEFA Europa League. To stay third, they must win if Sevilla defeat Juventus, as the Spanish side have a superior head-to-head record.

Previous meetings
• Mönchengladbach overcame City 4-2 on aggregate en route to lifting the UEFA Cup in 1979.

• Mick Channon (26) and Ewald Lienen (66) traded goals at Maine Road before Mönchengladbach's 3-1 second-leg victory. Christian Kulik (45), Hans-Günter Bruns (52) and Karl Del'Haye (71) all scored before Kazimierz Deyna's consolation (78) for City.

• The lineups for the first leg in Manchester on 8 March 1979 were:
City: Corrigan, Donachie, Watson, Booth, Power, Reid, Viljoen, Channon, Kidd, Hartford, Barnes.
Mönchengladbach: Kneib, Hannes, Klinkhammer, Schäfer, Schäffer, Bruns, Kulik (Wohlers 75), Nielsen, Del'haye, Simonsen, Lienen (Gores 80).

Match background

Manchester City
• City have reached the last 16 for the third season running. As in the previous two seasons, they are on course to qualify as group runners-up.

• Their last-gasp home victory over Sevilla on matchday three was only their sixth in 16 home games in the UEFA Champions League since 2011.

• Sergio Agüero has scored a late winner in City's last two games against Bundesliga opposition. He converted the 90th-minute penalty that downed Gladbach 2-1 in Germany on 30 September, having completed a memorable hat-trick against FC Bayern München with a 91st-minute strike in City's 3-2 comeback win in last season's group stage.

• Their overall home record against German visitors is W4 D2 L1.

• Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany played in City's first victory in Germany – 2-0 at FC Schalke 04 in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage.

Borussia Mönchengladbach
• Mönchengladbach are unbeaten in three Group D matches (two draws, one win) and are now seeking their first goal away in this season's competition having lost at Sevilla (0-3) and drawn at Juventus (0-0).

• Their 4-2 win over Sevilla last time out was their first in the European Cup since March 1978 and a 2-1 semi-final first-leg victory against Liverpool FC (2-4 aggregate).

• The Bundesliga club's away record against English opposition is W1 D2 L2.

• That solitary victory came on their most recent visit to England – a 3-2 success against Arsenal FC in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup first round (6-4 agg), featuring goals from Andrzej Juskowiak, Stefan Effenberg and Stephan Passlack.

• Mönchengladbach lost two finals against Liverpool in the 1970s – the 1973 UEFA Cup final (0-3 a, 2-0 h) and the 1977 European Cup final (1-3 in Rome).

• They also lost the first penalty shoot-out in European Cup history in the north-west of England, going down to Everton FC in the 1970/71 second round after a 2-2 aggregate draw.

Coach and player links
• Pellegrini's Málaga CF – featuring Willy Caballero and Martín Demichelis – lost 3-2 on aggregate to Borussia Dortmund in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, conceding two added-time goals in the second leg in Germany.

• Hart, Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph played in England's 2-0 success over the Switzerland of Yann Sommer, Granit Xhaka and Josip Drmic in a UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier at Wembley on 8 September.

• Gladbach's Swiss contingent previously suffered defeat against the Argentina of Pablo Zabaleta in the round of 16 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

• Kevin De Bruyne scored and Kompany also played in Belgium's 2-1 win against Fabian Johnson's United States in the round of 16 at Brazil 2014.

• De Bruyne suffered a 1-0 loss at Borussia-Park with VfL Wolfsburg in April this year. It was his only reverse in five Bundesliga outings against Gladbach for Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg, which included a goal in a 3-1 Wolfsburg home victory in May 2014.

• As a Bayern player (2003–10) Demichelis did not lose any of his 12 appearances against Gladbach (W6 D6).

• Håvard Nordtveit was on Arsenal's books from 2007–11 but never played a first-team game.

• Players who have played together:
Thorgan Hazard & Kompany, De Bruyne (Belgium)

Match facts

Manchester City
• On target in the 3-1 home win against Southampton FC on 28 November, De Bruyne scored twice late on as City eased into the League Cup semi-finals with a 4-1 triumph over Hull City AFC on 1 December.

• Delph scored his first City goal in the Southampton victory.

• Zabaleta (28 October, knee) was an unused substitute against Liverpool FC on 21 November but has not been on the bench since. David Silva (9 October, ankle) made his comeback against Southampton.

• Wilfried Bony (8 November, hamstring) also returned for the visit of Southampton and opened the scoring versus Hull.

• Hart (hamstring) was substituted with nine minutes left on matchday five and missed two City games, returning for the 2-0 loss at Stoke City FC on 5 December.

• Fernandinho was taken off with an injury during the Stoke defeat – which Sergio Agüero and Yaya Touré missed through injury; City have not won in four Premier League away games.

• Samir Nasri will be out until February with a hamstring injury.

Mönchengladbach
• Lars Stindl and Álvaro Domínguez are a booking away from a suspension.

• The Foals are 12 games unbeaten (W8 D4) since the defeat by Manchester City on matchday two.

• Most remarkably, they handed FC Bayern München their first defeat of the Bundesliga campaign on 5 December, beating the champions 3-1. Bayern had not conceded more than once in a 2015/16 league game before Saturday's match.

• Defender Fabian Johnson scored against Bayern – his fourth goal in his last three games in all competitions.

• Mönchengladbach, having lost their first five league games this season, were on a run of six successive Bundesliga victories until a goalless draw with FC Ingolstadt 04 on 7 November – all achieved under caretaker boss André Schubert.

• Schubert is the only coach in Gladbach's history to have won his first three league fixtures, let alone six. On 13 November, he was rewarded with a contract until summer 2017.

• Schubert is the first Mönchengladbach coach to be undefeated in his first ten league matches.

• Gladbach recovered from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on 28 November, Johnson equalising late on with his second of the game. Josip Drmic made it 3-2 with his first goal for the club.

• Ibrahima Traoré (thigh) has not played since going off injured early on against Sevilla on matchday five.

• Mönchengladbach announced on 16 November that Domínguez requires back surgery.

• André Hahn sustained a tibial plateau fracture and meniscus damage nine minutes after coming off the bench against FC Schalke 04 on 25 October. He is expected to be out until after the winter break.

• Patrick Herrmann was diagnosed with a tear in the rear cruciate ligament in his left knee on 8 October.

• Nico Schulz sustained a left knee ligament injury during a friendly draw against MSV Duisburg the following day.

• Making his first appearance for club or country since 22 March, Martin Stranzl was forced off after 65 minutes of the 3-0 reverse against Hamburger SV on 11 September with a broken eye socket. He returned to full training on 1 December, but sustained a thigh injury two days later.

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