The Manchester City boss explains why it is their first opponents Monchengladbach who he is worried about facing in the Champions League group stages. Manchester City have been drawn with Monchengladbach, Scottish Champions Celtic and Guardiola’s former club Barcelona. Monchengladbach finished 4th in the Bundesliga last season.
The Blues’ boss has admitted that the draw for the Champions League group stage has given him a cause for concern. Barcelona are the best in business according to the Spaniard but it is the German side who are giving him sleepless nights. Manchester City face Borussia Monchengladbach at the Etihad Stadium in the opening matchday of the Champions League, just three days after the mouth-watering Manchester derby (10th September) at Old Trafford.
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Manchester City did the double over the German side in last season’s competition winning 4-0 at the Etihad and 2-1 away at the Borussia-Park, though both games could have turned out very differently. Guardiola, who came up against the opposition in his three seasons with Bayern Munich, told Radio Catalunya: “I'm worried about Monchengladbach.
“I know them very well. The Champions League starts in the first round and not in the knockout stages. You cannot make mistakes. If you relax in the first two games, you are out.”
City also drew Barcelona, who knocked them out in the round of 16 back in 2014 and 2015, makes it a monumental task for Guardiola’s team and he thinks the trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez makes it the hardest test imaginable. He said: “We will play against the best. Nobody plays better than Barca.
“The three players up front make the difference but there is also a lot of work that goes at the back.
“You can see in the way they play that work has been done at the back and is what Luis Enrique has done and will continue to do in the coming years.
“They are the best and it's a great test for us. We will see what level we will give.”
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Barcelona won the Champions League in 2015. However, they were knocked out of the competition in 2014 and 2016 at the quarter-final stage by Atletico Madrid. Manchester City will face Barcelona on 19th October at the Nou Camp and the return fixture scheduled on 1st November. City kick-off their 2016-17 Champions League campaign against Monchengladbach on 13th September.
