Borussia Mönchengladbach claimed their first win in the Europa League group stage ahead of their huge Bundesliga game with Bayern Munich. The five-time German champions completed the first round of fixtures in the group with a 5-0 win over Apollon Limassol and will be full of confidence ahead of their mouth-watering clash with the German record holders on Sunday (17:30 CEST).
The goals on the night were scored by Ibrahima Traore, who scored his first two competitive goals for Borussia in the 11th and 67th minute, Branimir Hrgota (56’), Patrick Herrmann (83’) and an own-goal from Angelis Charalambous in the 91st minute. Gladbach remain unbeaten after 14 competitive games this season and move up to second place in Group A after their draws with FC Villarreal and FC Zürich. If they can stay there, they would be guaranteed to advance to the knockout phase.
Manager Lucien Favre once again rotated his squad against Limassol. Playmaker Raffael and André Hahn were both left on the bench, with World Cup winner Christoph Kramer not included in the matchday squad, despite overcoming gastroenteritis.
Cypriots sit back from the off
The visitors, who were being managed by Romanian Ioan Andone for the first time, sat back from the off, with two banks of four. Gladbach, in front of 38,182 spectators, showed that they were unfazed by this and by exploiting the flanks, created their first two chances of the night, which fell to Traoré, in the 2nd minute, and then to Germany international Max Kruse in the 8th minute. Traoré then went onto score, after good build-up play from Oscar Wendt and Hrgota.
After scoring, the team sitting in 2nd place in the Bundesliga settled down and restricted themselves in order to control the game against a harmless opponent. After 25 minutes, Gladbach once again upped their attacking threat. A free-kick from Havard Nordtveit in the 26th minute didn’t find the target and then a header from Kruse in the 29th minute from close range was put straight at goalkeeper Bruno Vale. The brilliant Traore wasted a chance in the 34th minute to score his second goal of the night.
The hosts could have gone into the break with a comfortable lead, but Hrgota and Thorgan Hazard both failed to beat opposition keeper Vale in injury time.
Borussia had their game with FC Bayern in the back of their minds and therefore brought on Brazilian Raffael at half-time in place of Max Kruse.
Careless just after the restart
Gladbach lost their concentration in the first ten minutes of the second half and misdirected a few passes. The visitors had their first chance of the game in the 52nd minute, but keeper Yann Sommer saved from Hugo Lopez in order to keep Gladbach’s lead intact.
But it wasn’t long before the hosts began to take hold of the game. After a shot from Traoré was saved by Vale, Hrgota scored to make it 2-0, before Traoré’s second goal of the night put the game beyond doubt. Herrmann scored the fourth shortly after coming on, and Charalambous rounded off the win with an unintentional own goal.
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Borussia Mönchengladbach claimed their first win in the Europa League group stage ahead of their huge Bundesliga game with Bayern Munich. The five-time German champions completed the first round of fixtures in the group with a 5-0 win over Apollon Limassol and will be full of confidence ahead of their mouth-watering clash with the German record holders on Sunday (17:30 CEST).
The goals on the night were scored by Ibrahima Traore, who scored his first two competitive goals for Borussia in the 11th and 67th minute, Branimir Hrgota (56’), Patrick Herrmann (83’) and an own-goal from Angelis Charalambous in the 91st minute. Gladbach remain unbeaten after 14 competitive games this season and move up to second place in Group A after their draws with FC Villarreal and FC Zürich. If they can stay there, they would be guaranteed to advance to the knockout phase.
Manager Lucien Favre once again rotated his squad against Limassol. Playmaker Raffael and André Hahn were both left on the bench, with World Cup winner Christoph Kramer not included in the matchday squad, despite overcoming gastroenteritis.
Cypriots sit back from the off
The visitors, who were being managed by Romanian Ioan Andone for the first time, sat back from the off, with two banks of four. Gladbach, in front of 38,182 spectators, showed that they were unfazed by this and by exploiting the flanks, created their first two chances of the night, which fell to Traoré, in the 2nd minute, and then to Germany international Max Kruse in the 8th minute. Traoré then went onto score, after good build-up play from Oscar Wendt and Hrgota.
After scoring, the team sitting in 2nd place in the Bundesliga settled down and restricted themselves in order to control the game against a harmless opponent. After 25 minutes, Gladbach once again upped their attacking threat. A free-kick from Havard Nordtveit in the 26th minute didn’t find the target and then a header from Kruse in the 29th minute from close range was put straight at goalkeeper Bruno Vale. The brilliant Traore wasted a chance in the 34th minute to score his second goal of the night.
The hosts could have gone into the break with a comfortable lead, but Hrgota and Thorgan Hazard both failed to beat opposition keeper Vale in injury time.
Borussia had their game with FC Bayern in the back of their minds and therefore brought on Brazilian Raffael at half-time in place of Max Kruse.
Careless just after the restart
Gladbach lost their concentration in the first ten minutes of the second half and misdirected a few passes. The visitors had their first chance of the game in the 52nd minute, but keeper Yann Sommer saved from Hugo Lopez in order to keep Gladbach’s lead intact.
But it wasn’t long before the hosts began to take hold of the game. After a shot from Traoré was saved by Vale, Hrgota scored to make it 2-0, before Traoré’s second goal of the night put the game beyond doubt. Herrmann scored the fourth shortly after coming on, and Charalambous rounded off the win with an unintentional own goal.
