Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Manchester City and Borussia Moenchengladbach will play their opening Champions League group game on Wednesday after Tuesday’s match was postponed due to heavy rain at City’s Etihad Stadium.
“CONFIRMED: #MCFCBMG has been rearranged for 20:45 CEST (1845 GMT) tomorrow (Wednesday) night,” Gladbach announced on their official Twitter account.
It is understood that Gladbach wanted the game to take place at 1700 GMT on Wednesday, but City did not have staff members available at that time.
All tickets for the match are still valid.
The game had been due to take place at 1845 GMT on Tuesday, but was called off 20 minutes earlier as a summer thunderstorm battered Manchester.
It rained heavily in the city for several hours prior to the scheduled kick-off time and there was thunder and lightning overhead as fans made their way to the stadium.
A group of UEFA officials carrying blue umbrellas performed a pitch inspection around 45 minutes prior to the scheduled kick-off time.
Manchester City’s goalkeepers Claudio Bravo and Willy Caballero had come out to warm up, but were ushered inside.
The rain eased off as kick-off approached and the pitch appeared playable, but City announced at 1825 GMT that the match had been called off “on safety and security grounds”.
Conditions outside the ground were treacherous.
Several hundred visiting Gladbach fans, many of them shirtless, remained in their seating section singing after the postponement was announced.
Gladbach’s players, wearing green and black club tracksuits, came out to salute them before returning to their changing room.
City’s German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan tweeted: “What a pity #MCFCBMG couldn’t take place. We’re all looking forward to get the #UCL started. But it wasn’t meant to be.”
Manchester’s Metrolink tram system had to be temporarily suspended due to the rain and photographs circulating on social media showed huge puddles in city centre streets.
In the day’s other Group C game, Barcelona crushed Celtic 7-0.
The match is due to be City manager Pep Guardiola’s first group-stage game with the club.
City and Gladbach met in last season’s group phase, with the English club winning both games en route to the semi-finals.
Both teams are in league action on Saturday, City hosting Bournemouth in the Premier League and Gladbach entertaining Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.
