Manchester City vs Gladbach: Uefa confirm when match will be played as storm delays Champions League clash

Pep Guardiola was forced to delay his launch into the Champions League with Manchester City on Tuesday night when the side’s opening tie was cancelled after an hour of torrential rain. The sides will replay the fixture at 7.45pm on Wednesday.

To howls of derision from the 1,500 visiting Borussia Monchengladbach fans, City announced 20 minutes before kick-off that the game was to be cancelled, even though the pools of water which accumulated on the turf had cleared by then.

The German club were pushing late on Tuesday for the match to be replayed on Wednesday afternoon, enabling them to get home and limit costs for supporters, though afternoon or early evening kick-off times created problems with mustering adequate numbers of stewards.

After the German side’s players appeared to acknowledge its fans after the cancellation, Monchengladbach spokesman Markus Aretz said: “We would like mid-afternoon kick off but we are still talking to City.” Uefa were thought to want to avoid a clash with Wednesday night’s Champions League matches.

The problem for Uefa officials attempting to reschedule the match was Manchester’s weather forecast for Wednesday. Severe rain is predicted from 4pm in the afternoon until 7pm, with thunderstorms predicted in a day when temperatures in the city are expected to reach more than 26C.

Despite a hot morning in Manchester on Tuesday, an hour of incessant torrential rain hit the city at 6pm, with initial thunder and lightning. The UK Environment Agency put out a severe weather flood warning, cars were abandoned in streets surrounding the stadium and roads were gridlocked as they became buried under feet of water.

When referee Bjorn Kuipers headed out across the pitch for a pitch inspection just before 7pm and tried to bounce the ball, it remained stuck on the surface water. City’s drainage system meant that the water did clear immensely quickly, but despite the German indignation the safety of fans on waterlogged waterways has always been a prime consideration on these occasions. This was the main reason why City’s match against Sunderland was postponed because of high winds in 2014.

Article 25 of UEFA rules state that the match must take place either on the day after the game or on a “reserve date” and a decision on the replay also had to be taken within two hours

Guardiola had set out his stall for the game, bringing back Sergio Aguero as expected but also fielding Jesus Navas in the place of Nolito on the City left. Pablo Zabaleta was preferred to Bacary Sagna at right back. Kelechi Iheanacho was relegated to the bench for City. The Germans appeared to have lined up with their ambitious three-man defence.

But it was not to be. Heavy rain began falling at 4pm and briefly cleared but when it reached storm proportions large swathes of central Manchester were flooded. Significantly for fans, the city’s tram system ground to a standstill, leaving many supporters stranded at stations.

City said in a statement: “Torrential rainfall across Manchester throughout the evening led to flooding in the areas around the ground, which forced the decision on safety and security grounds.

Though a rare happening, last night’s postponement was not a first for City. Their UEFA Cup third-round tie at AC Milan was cancelled in November 1978 due to thick fog and the teams met again the following lunchtime, kicking off at 1.30pm. They earned a 2-2 draw and won the second leg 3-0.