Manchester City and Borussia Moenchengladbach will go head-to-head on Wednesday night in their Champions League group phase game after a late downpour forced the referee to postpone the fixture.

Although the Bundesliga side wanted to kick-off early, officials from both sides and UEFA, European football's governing body, agreed on a 1945 local time start. The Foals take on Werder Bremen on Saturday in the Bundesliga and will likely return around 50 hours before their league outing.

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 time approached, but with the pitch sodden and conditions outside treacherous, the decision to call the game off was made around 15 minutes until kickoff.

Players and staff from the German club applauded the thousand-or-so travelling supporters who remained inside the Etihad Stadium.