Manchester City stole all three points in Germany on Wednesday night as they bagged their first win of the new Champions League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach.
A lively opening half ended goalless at Borussia Park, Joe Hart the stand out man for City after pulling off a string of splendid saves to keep his side in it.
Many of these stops thwarted Raffael - one of these from the spot too after the Brazilian was dubiously awarded a penalty having gone down following a challenge from Nicólas Otamendi.
Mönchengladbach finally got the goal they deserved within nine minutes of the restart though, Lars Stindl on target with a composed finish that Hart could this time do nothing about, with his defence doing very little to protect him, just as had been the case throughout the evening.
City's response to this was fantastic though, and they were level 10 minutes later thanks to Otamendi. The goal came from a corner, with Martin Demichelis converting, but the referee did not give the goal, judging the ball to have been cleared off the line, despite it being at least a yard over.
Fortunately for the Citizens, Otamendi smashed in the loose ball, with the help of a deflection, equalising for his side.
This produced a fantastic response from the visitors, who piled the pressure on Mönchengladbach after scoring, eventually getting the late winner their second half performance deserved as Sergio Agüero was brought down in the area in the 90th minute and converted the resulting spot kick.
It was a harsh result on the hosts, who had been marvellous in the first half and perhaps deserving of a point, but City fought back brilliantly for all three points.
Team news
After putting their winless start to the new Bundesliga campaign to bed with two consecutive victories, Mönchengladbach made just the one change to the team that beat VfB Stuttgart 3-1 last time out for this game, with Alvaro Dominguez replacing Havard Nordtveit in the centre of defence.
Manchester City, on the other hand, were certainly expected to tinker with their side a little more, coming into the game off the back of a contrasting two straight defeats in the Premier League - the latest a heavy one too, as they were thumped 4-1 by Tottenham Hotspur despite leading 1-0.
These two changes were down to players being back from injury, with one seeing Hart return in between the sticks after Willy Caballero deputised at the weekend due to a back problem for the England international.
The other change saw David Silva return to the team, the Spaniard having been out since the Juventus defeat due to a calf injury. His starting berth meant a place on the bench for Fernando, with Yaya Touré dropping into a deeper midfield role as a result.
Lively start sees both sides come close
Recent form characterised the opening stages of the game, with Mönchengladbach the better side in the first few minutes as they twice managed to carve City open - albeit lacking the conviction and composure to punish the visitors.
However, it was the away team who had the first big chance of the game after only five minutes - with it falling to the one man they would want it to too.
Raheem Sterling created the opportunity, drilling a teasing and dangerous low cross across the face of the goal, but Sergio Agüero was thwarted at the far post by the marvellous agility of Yann Sommer, the goalkeeper somehow getting across to save the Argentine's lunging effort before Sterling hit the rebound into the sidenetting.
Mönchengladbach could just as easily have opened the scoring on the 10 minute mark though, with the Germans breaking marvellously from a City corner. Raffael led the charge and slipped in Patrick Hermann, but his drilled effort from the left hand side of the area fizzed inches wide of Hart's far post.
The ultimate chance came on the 20 minute mark though, when Otamendi brought down Raffael in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. The forward looked to be going down before the challenge was made and thus the decision was certainly a contentious one, and therefore maybe justice was done when the Brazilian's effort was brilliantly saved by Hart.
The end-to-end manner of the game continued from here, with Hart collecting the resulting corner and releasing Agüero with a lovely kick forward, but the prolific striker was unable to find the target one-on-one with Sommer, lashing his shot wide of the mark.
Open game continues to entertain as Hart keeps City in it
Perhaps inspired by Hart's tremendous stop from 12 yards, City looked like they were going to take control of the game, able to thwart Mönchengladbach at one end whilst posing problems for them at the other.
However, they were still lacking that finishing touch, especially Agüero, who squandered another good opportunity just short of the half hour mark when his half-volley spun a yard or so wide of Sommer's far post.
As well as this, the hosts were really up for the game and hardly fearful of their opponents, playing some lovely football and looking especially threatening on the counter. As half time neared, Raffael, their liveliest performer, was threaded through on goal by an absolutely sublime through ball, but Hart was in outstanding form himself, coming out to make a stunning smothering save.
It was then that the Germans instead took over, with the Brazilian again getting involved as his mazy run distracted the defence from the run of Hermann down the right, allowing him to be picked up and played through on goal, only for Hart to again come up with the goods from close range.
Moments later, Mönchengladbach should have had another penalty too, Fernandinho clumsily sliding in and catching Stindl as he broke into the area. However, the referee judged it as a dive, booking the forward for going down, when he had certainly been fouled and deserved a spot kick.
Sterling had a half chance for City as we entered the half's final five minutes, but the ball bounced awkwardly for him as he entered the box and thus he was only able to muster it a tame header that was straight at Sommer from just a few yards out.
Hart was the stand-out performer come the break though, having kept his side in the game after a rather lacklustre performance in comparison to Mönchengladbach's, with Otamendi an Demichelis looking especially suspect in the heart of defence and being exploited for this.
Mönchengladbach finally punish shaky City defence, but the visitors respond
The Citizens made a half time change, a defensive one aiming to protect their back line perhaps as Fernando replaced Touré, but it hardly helped as, within two minutes of the restart, Hart was forced into another great save, again denying Raffael after he got in behind the defence.
Less than 10 minutes later, the Germans finally got the goal they deserved too, carving City open with a wonderful passing move that was well finished by Stindl. Aleksandar Kolarov was at fault in the build-up, leaving Julian Korb completely unmarked out wide and able to cut the ball back for his striker to slot home from just inside the box.
Nonetheless, this sparked City into life, with them dominating possession for the next 10 minutes and getting their equaliser just past the hour.
Demichelis initially knocked in the corner that produced the goal with his knee, the ball clearly crossing the line despite Korb's attempted clearance, but it was not given by the linesman or the official behind the goal line. Fortunately for the visitors though, Otamendi smashed in the follow-up, aided by a deflection off of Andreas Christensen, with him credited for the goal as the referee was not going to give his fellow centre-half's strike.
It was sloppy from Mönchengladbach, their marking all over the place, but Otamendi did brilliantly to react to the loose ball whilst his teammates stood and appealed for a goal, as had he not have done, they would have still trailed.
Hosts on the ropes as the Citizens pour forward and steal the win
This goal just spurred the visitors on even more, with them pinning their opponents in their own half after scoring - chances falling to Agüero and Kevin De Bruyne, but none converted.
Fernandinho came close as we entered the final 15 minutes, De Bruyne teeing him up on the edge of the box to strike over the bar by a few inches, whilst Sterling headed over the bar shortly after, unable to get over Jesús Navas' deep cross.
With them really pushing for a winner though, City were suspect to a counter attack, and substitute Ibrahima Traoré set up another sub in André Hahn to try and steal an unlikely three points for themselves, but he lashed his effort over the bar.
This was the first sight of goal the Germans had had since scoring, and it proved to be the last, as City got a very late spot kick to snatch victory at the death. Agüero won the penalty, his quick feet in the area too fast for Fabian Johnson, who hacked him down in the final minute of the 90.
The Argentine kept his cool in the pressure situation, sending Sommer the wrong way as his placed the ball in the bottom right hand corner of the goal with his side's only shot on target bar their equaliser.
Sommer did stop the striker from making it three in stoppage time, but it came with some pain, his teammate Oscar Wendt catching him in the face after the save and producing a nasty, bloody blow to his nose as a result.
The stop was all in vain in the end too, as, after four minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew for full time and it was City who were celebrating, having completed a comeback that looked extremely unlikely once they went behind, with them having been out-played for the opening 55 minutes of the match.
Their response to conceding was marvellous though, and their efforts were deserving of a result, yet all three points was perhaps harsh on a lively Mönchengladbach.