By Barry Whelan, dpa
Manchester City and Borussia Moenchengladbach are well placed to reach Thursday’s Champions League group-stage draw. Monaco, Legia Warsaw, Celtic, Ludogorets and Copenhagen also hold leads going into the play-off second-leg matches on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Berlin (dpa) – Manchester City and Borussia Moenchengladbach look set to beef up the English and German contingents in the Champions League group stage.
Both go into home return legs in the play-offs following clear away wins a week ago, while Monaco and Legia Warsaw are two other teams with leads after first-leg away victories.
Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick as City hammered Steaua on their home ground and notched two more in a 4-1 win at Stoke City in the Premier League on Saturday as Pep Guardiola’s side warmed up for Wednesday’s return leg.
Guardiola will rest some players but it is not thought out-of-favour Joe Hart will return in goal. Hart has been linked in the British media with a move to Everton while City are expected to seal the signing of Barcelona keeper Claudio Bravo this week.
«We’re going to change some things,» Guardiola was quoted by the Mirror.
«I’m going to sit down with my people and see which players need more training than playing.
«We’ll also see which players have more minutes in their legs. But we’re not there to have fun. We’re there to win the game, to be serious and to prepare.»
Bundesliga side Moenchengladbach hold a 3-1 advantage as they take on Young Boys Bern, hoping to join fellow Germans Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen in the group stage.
Gladbach struggled to beat Drochtersen/Assel 1-0 at the fourth-tier side in the first round of the German Cup on Saturday but are confident of finishing the job against their Swiss opponents on Wednesday to go into the group stage for a second successive season.
Saturday’s goalscorer Julian Korb told the club’s website: «With our home fans behind us we want to complete the step into the group stage.»
Monaco are 2-1 up as they entertain Spain’s Villarreal, while Legia hold a 2-0 advantage over visiting Irish side Dundalk, with both games on Tuesday.
Scottish hopes Celtic meanwhile take a 5-2 lead to Israel’s Hapoel Beer-Sheva on Tuesday, also boosted by a 4-2 victory over St Johnstone on Saturday.
Brendan Rodgers’ side will not be complacent despite the three-goal advantage, assistant manager Chris Davies said.
«We have been very clear with the players. They are very focused and yesterday we had an opportunity where we could have possibly rotated some players but we didn’t,» Davies told the club’s website.
«We chose to keep them in, win the game and keep that winning mentality and run going.»
Davies said Hapoel were analysed and the first leg analysed in detail and «we have a game plan for how we think the game is going to go and how we think we have can have success.»
Bulgaria’s Ludogorets are meanwhile 2-0 up going to Czech side Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday, while Copenhagen defend a 1-0 lead at Apoel Nicosia on Wednesday.
Other ties are all square: Roma host Porto Tuesday with the sides 1-1, while on Wednesday Rostov meet Ajax, and Salzburg entertain Dinamo Zagreb, with both at 1-1.
The Champions League group stage draw is in Monaco at 1600 GMT Thursday.
