Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini praises magnificent goalkeeper Joe Hart

Joe Hart was on fire as Manchester City left it late to grab win in Germany
Hart saved a first-half penalty and made a series of other fantastic stops
City went on to win the game thanks to a late penalty from Sergio Aguero
Manuel Pellegrini was quick to praise the goalkeeper for his part in the win

Published:
22:08 GMT, 30 September 2015

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Updated:
23:40 GMT, 30 September 2015

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Manuel Pellegrini paid tribute to Joe Hart after the England goalkeeper paved the way for Manchester City’s Champions League comeback in Monchengladbach last night.

Hart made a series of fantastic saves, including keeping out a first-half penalty from Raffael, as City recovered from going a goal down to win with a 90th-minute penalty from Sergio Aguero.

Pellegrini said: ‘Joe made three very important saves, saved a penalty, and after that also made brilliant saves. His performance was very important for us.

Joe Hart was praised after a sensational session between the sticks in the Champions League on Tuesday

Raffael (right) volleys low and hard, but the strong left hand of Hart stops the ball, sending it wide

Under the watchful eye of the entire stadium, Hart produced a magnificent save to keep the score at 0-0

‘It was a strange game and we did not defend well. It could have been 4-4 after an hour but then we dominated the game.

‘Maybe their keeper didn’t make important saves, but we missed very clear chances. We got a little bit of luck at the end but we have had plenty of bad luck recently.

‘I was not surprised by Borussia Monchengladbach. I have seen all of the games they played and warned the players they had very fast players in the midfield.’

Aguero grabbed the winner from the spot – making it 15 goals in 15 Champions League for the Argentina striker – after struggling in front of goal by missing two clear opportunities.

Pellegrini added: ‘Sergio had clear chances to score, so it is not easy to take a penalty in the last minute. We know how important he is for our team, but we now need the international break because we have eight important players who are injured.’

City now face Sevilla home and away as they try to make up ground on Group D leaders Juventus.

Sergio Aguero (centre) wheels away in celebration after scoring a last-minute penalty to secure the win

Aleksandar Kolarov (centre top) climbs on top of his team-mates as Manchester City players celebrate

Hart said: ‘We did it the hard way – as our fans know, that is the way we keep doing things at the moment. But it wasn’t really good enough, we gave them far too many chances.

‘The win was important but we need to improve. As badly as we played, we still deserved to win.

‘We need to get back to being as we were in the first five games of the Premier League when we were more of a balanced team. We were a little bit unbalanced.

‘But the season is a long one and you go through good stages and hopefully that will put us in a good place for Newcastle.

‘I am enjoying playing but was gutted to concede the goal. I knew they would stop attacking after that – I didn’t really touch the ball after that, but I was happy we got the two goals.’