Torrential downpours have suspended Pep Guardiola’s first Champions League game for Manchester City. The game will be rescheduled for a later date.
After Manchester City won the Manchester derby over the weekend, they were in great spirits heading into their first Champions League fixtures. They had a difficult Champions League group, which includes a mouth-watering matchup with Barcelona, but they were expected to handle Borussia Monchengladbach comfortably. But for as good as Manchester City have looked so far, they can’t defeat Mother Nature:
Club announcement: Tonight’s #UCL match between #mcfc and @borussia_en has been postponed due to adverse weather conditions. #cityvbmg
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 13, 2016
A football match in the rain is usually spectacular – seeing defenders battle the elements as well as opposing strikers makes for great theater. But the Etihad’s conditions were too much for the players to handle. As you can see, the ball couldn’t even roll properly:
"Just a little rain in Manchester tonight. Unclear if they’re going to get this game started. #UCLonFOX https://t.co/Rh87c75uiW— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 13, 2016"
That means there was one less game on tap, which was unfortunate for soccer fans. There isn’t a day quite like the first day of the Champions League group stage. There’s no word yet on when the match will be rescheduled, but tomorrow would be the best case scenario. But if they don’t get it by then, that only means Manchester City will have more time to prepare for Bournemouth.
Having spent three seasons in the Bundesliga, Guardiola knows Borussia Monchengladbach well. But although he won the league every year, Monchengladbach seem to have his number. He hasn’t beaten them in his last four tries; you have to go back to 2013 for the last time he beat them. So even if Manchester City go on to win the Premier League, elimination from the Champions League group stage is a real possibility.
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The silver lining in all of this is that Guardiola now has more time to gameplan for Monchengladbach. Considering they just came off an emotional win over Manchester United, they could’ve been walking into a trap.