Pep Guardiola has thanked Txiki Begiristain for pulling off a major summer signing for Manchester City.

The club's director of football managed to land Ilkay Gundogan from Borussia Dortmund for £20million during the summer window and his desire to sign the 25-year-old was somewhat vindicated on Wednesday night.

Gundogan made his City debut in the centre of midfield in the 4-0 Champions League win over Borussia Monchengladbach after returning from a knee injury and his display was certainly not lost on his boss.

"It shows how good he is," Guardiola beamed.

"After three of four months out, today we had a talk with him and he said he was ready. He is so intelligent - he knew exactly when to control the efforts. I thought he could play 90 minutes.

"He is so intelligent and he is really good when arriving in the box. His qualities will help us a lot.

"Thank you to Txiki [Begiristain] for buying him!

"It's always a surprise when a player goes so long without playing and plays the way he did. We are happy with his great performance."