Borussia Monchengladbach were rooted to the bottom of their Champions League table. They had stalwarts Thorgen Hazard and Raffael out with injuries as well as United States superstar Fabian Johnson while Mahmoud Dahoud started on the bench for their Wednesday trip to Glasgow to face Celtic. None of that mattered as the Fohlenelf rolled to a 2-0 victory that silenced the Bhoys' faithful and boosted qualification hopes.
After a Matchday 1 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, Gladbach looked doomed in the Group of Death. Blowing a lead at home against a Lionel Messi-less Barcelona on Matchday 2 made that fate even likelier.
Now Andre Schubert's side could leapfrog City with three points at home against Celtic provided Manchester City do not win in England against Barca that same day. In that scenario, Borussia could now advance with three points in a Nov. 23 rematch with City.
It's all conjecture at this point but this was an inspired showing by the Foals. Lars Stindl and Andre Hahn proved too much for Celtic to handle after the Scottish champs gave City the business in a 3-3 Celtic Park thriller that had them looking the likelier of the two sides for a Europa League berth.
Instead Borussia turned on the style and made their hosts impotent, seizing on two Kolo Toure errors for their goals even though in truth they were the better side throughout. It was the kind of away performance rarely seen by Gladbach.
"We're fearless at home – we play with a high tempo and we're always looking for the quickest route to goal," Schubert told Bundesliga.com. "In the opponents' penalty area, we look for one-on-one situations and try to get shots on goal. When we're away, though, our attacks break down, or we just pass the ball from one side of the pitch to another."
Last season, Gladbach took four points off Bayern Munich and visit the Allianz Arena this weekend. They could prove to be the bogey side again to the Bundesliga's best.
Said Hahn: "We know we’re a team who can give Bayern problems."
No comments:
Post a Comment