1 A point enough?
A draw in Monchengladbach will almost certainly be enough for Man City to progress to the knock-out stages of the Champions League.
A draw would mean even if the Germans won their final game away to Barcelona and Man City lost to Celtic, the Blues’ head-to-head is better over the two games played and would be decisive.
If Man City win at Borussia Park, neither Monchengladbach nor Celtic could catch Man City who would progress with one match to spare.
Defeat would mean Man City needed a win against Celtic to go through, provided the margin of loss was less than the 4-0 score-line against Monchengladbach at the Etihad.
For Celtic to overhaul both Man City and Borussia, the Hoops would need to beat Barcelona at Celtic Park and then win at the Etihad Stadium.
Barca would need to drop at least two points in their remaining games if Man City are to overhaul the Catalans at the top of the group – if Man City and Barca finish level on points the La Liga side’s 4-0 triumph at the Nou Camp means they would finish higher courtesy of the head-to-head record.
On paper, the Blues and Barcelona look strong favourites to progress, but Monchengladbach and Celtic will no doubt have something to say about that.
2 Monchengladbach poor home run
Man City beat Monchengladbach 2-1 on the last visit to Borussia-Park with goals from Martin Demichelis and Sergio Aguero completing an impressive fight-back by the Blues.
But the German side, so strong on their own patch last season, have won just one of their last six games on their own soil.
While defeat to Man City will end hopes of making it to the Round of 16, Borussia may have already banked enough points to claim a Europa League spot if all else fails with Celtic still to play Barcelona and the Blues.
3 Pep’s return
While he took Man City back to Germany for a friendly with Bayern Munich in pre-season, this will be Pep Guardiola’s first competitive return to Germany as the Blues’ coach.
Monchengladbach proved something of a jinx team for Pep Guardiola while he was boss of Bayern.
In his final year in Germany Bayern drew 1-1 at the Allianz Arena and lost 3-1 at Borussia Park.
The season before, Monchengladbach won 2-0 at the Allianz and held Bayern 0-0 at home so the 4-0 Etihad win in September will have been a relief to the Catalan manager who hasn’t had many teams get the better of him in his managerial career!
4 Make mine a treble
Aguero is chasing an unprecedented third Man City hat-trick in the Champions League this season.
Having already notched a treble away to Steaua in the play-off round, the Argentina star bagged another hat-trick in the first group game against Borussia Monchengladbach.
Given he scored the last time he was at Borussia-Park, Aguero now has four goals in two games against BMG – and let’s not forget he scored a hat-trick against Bayern Munich a couple of years back, too – safe to say he enjoys playing against German sides.
5 Bundesliga stars to shine
Will Pep recall Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane on Wednesday evening?
They are two players who know the Bundesliga better than most, and while Gundogan is almost certain to start, Borussia-Park could be the perfect launchpad for Sane to really get his Man City career off and running.
Oh, and there’s the former Bundesliga Player of the Year, Kevin De Bruyne to throw in the mix...
It will be fascinating to see the starting XI…
