Manchester City vs. Monchengladbach: Score, Reaction from 2015 Champions League

For 80 minutes on Tuesday, Borussia Monchengladbach looked as though they were going to steal a win on the road against Manchester City. In a span of five minutes, however, City broke their hearts.

Despite trailing 2-1 heading into the 80th minute, Manchester City scored three late goals to earn a 4-2 win. Raheem Sterling's late brace and a Wilfried Bony goal brought the Citizens all the way back after first-half goals from Julian Korb and Raffael had given Monchengladbach the lead.

David Silva also scored for City, who notched a huge win that saw them finish atop Group D after Sevilla upset Juventus 1-0 on Tuesday.

While Gladbach dominated in stretches, City ultimately outshot the German side 20-12 (9-4 on target) and held 51 percent of possession, per WhoScored.com.

Silva gave City the lead in the 16th minute. Sterling played a nice pass to the midfielder down the left side of the box, and Silva took a look toward his teammates before deciding a pass wasn't on and instead ripping a shot toward goal. His screamer from a tough angle flew over the head of a helpless Yann Sommer, giving City a 1-0 lead.

Fox Soccer shared the goal:

Tancredi Palmeri jokingly described Silva's thought process:

Gladbach would have their equaliser just three minutes later, however, hitting City on the break. Lars Stindl played a pass nearly the entire width of the box to a wide-open Korb, who shot across the face of goal and precisely placed his shot in the left corner of the net.

The German side made it 2-1 just before the half ended. Gladbach again hit City on the counter behind a series of quick passes before Oscar Wendt sent a low cross to the center of the box. The ball bounced off Fabian Johnson and into the path of Raffael, who had an easy tap-in to give his side the lead.

It was Johnson's second assist of the half and further proof that the United States defender has shown marked improvement this year, as Ian Darke of ESPN noted:

"

Very good signs this season that Fabian Johnson has moved to another level and can be a special player for USA.

— Ian Darke (@IanDarke) December 8, 2015"

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated agreed:

The German side took a 2-1 lead into halftime after a first 45 minutes that they largely bossed. City came into the game in the second half, however. Sommer was forced into duty a few times for Gladbach in the second half, in particular making a lunging save on a Sterling shot that was destined for the corner. 

Sterling would have his revenge, however.

Gael Clichy's cutback in the 80th minute found its way to Sterling, and the forward had the easiest of tap-ins to equalise.

A minute later, Sterling gave City the lead. After Silva won a header in midfield, Bony kept control of the ball between two defenders and found Sterling free on goal. The forward confidently opened his body and curled a beautiful shot past Sommer.

Those goals will go a long way toward restoring Sterling's confidence, as the forward has been in something of a dry spell, per WhoScored.com:

Bony would put the cherry atop the comeback four minutes later, finding himself with the ball in the middle of the box after recovering his own rebound. The striker calmly slotted home City's fourth goal and put the game away.

City's victory, coupled with the Juventus loss, means the club will likely avoid many of Europe's powerhouses and will be seeded against a second-place group finisher in the Round of 16. The loss was devastating for Gladbach, meanwhile, ensuring that the German side finished fourth in the group and lost a berth in the Europa League.

Post-Match Reaction

Jon Super/Associated Press

After the match, City manager Manuel Pellegrini was quite pleased with his team's performance.

"If we play the way we did in the second half we can play against any team," the manager told the club's website. "It’s the way we normally work—it’s the way I like us to play. It seems like it’s faster but it’s slower. For me, the most important thing tonight, above finishing top of the group, is that we returned to being the team we normally are."

He was also quite pleased that the team managed to top the group.

“It’s better to finish first but all important teams will be in Round of 16—if you want to win the title you have to play against the biggest teams," he said, before adding, "Of course it’s better not to draw Barcelona or Real Madrid at this stage but it’s only one round we avoid them.”

He also revealed his tongue-in-cheek expectations coming into the day for the game's star, Sterling.

“It was his birthday—I told him before the game that the minimum he had to do today was score two goals," Pellegrini said. "I’m not joking—I told him that. I think it was important for him to score those goals tonight.”

Sterling, ultimately, got himself and the entire club two very important birthday presents.

For Gladbach, however, the day went from feeling like a celebration to very quickly becoming a gut-wrenching loss.

"Even if it's difficult, we have to try and keep our heads up now," Korb told the club's Twitter account.

"It's a tough ending, but we gave a good account of ourselves in the Champions League," Johnson added.

Indeed they did. Were it not for a whirlwind five minutes down the stretch, Gladbach would have found themselves in the Europa League after a strong showing in the strongest Champions League group this season. 

Instead, they ended up with heartache. Such are the stakes in Europe's top club competition.