The 5-goal thriller at Borussia-Park

 

There exists a fighting spirit among the players of Borussia Monchengladbach and they all are united. Even when they are on the backfoot, they tend to regroup themselves and give their best to crawl back into the game. In the Champions League, Real Madrid tasted their stubborn resistance, while last night, the mighty Bayern Munich digested a shocking defeat in a 5-goal thriller at the Borussia-Park.

None expected Monchengladbach to do the impossible act against the German Giants, but they capitalized the shakiness at the back and hunted in packs to snatch full points from the jaws of defeat.

The hosts found themselves ahead as early as the 20th minute after referee Harm Osmers pointed to the spot for a stupendous handball in the area by Florian Neuhauss.

Osmers had initially waved play on but replays by VAR made him change his decision. Robert Lewandowski made no mistake from 12 yards to score his 20th Bundesliga goal of the season.

Bayern Munich soon doubled their lead when Leroy Sane and Leon Goretska combined beautifully, allowing the latter to score from outside the area with a thunderous effort.

But as soon as the 2-0 lead gained and everyone expected more, Bayern Munich started to crumble and Monchengladbach exploited.

They bounced back to script a 3-2 win.

Manuel Neuer rediscovered his mojo after a couple of poor seasons by his standards and inspired Bayern Munich to the treble.

However, in this season, he is found struggling and after last night, he is now 10 games without a Bundesliga clean sheet for him.

Incredibly, the last time the 34-year-old kept a league clean sheet was in the 5-0 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt on 24 October last year.

Since then, he has conceded 13 goals in just 10 Bundesliga fixtures.

This is the longest stretch he has gone without a league clean sheet in his career but he has hardly been helped by the porous defence in front of him.

There were defensive errors involved in all three of Monchengladbach's goals.

Benjamin Pavard were disposed of in the build-up to the opening goal, while Kimmich and Sule were at fault for the other two goals.

His anticipation against Monchengladbach was off-the-charts, but he was the victim of some awful play from the back-line on all three goals for the Foals. Neuer made some very brave plays in the game, especially early on – but they became irrelevant.

Bayern Munich were caught napping when Jonas Hofmann’s perfectly-timed run resulted in the first goal for Monchengladbach. Niklas Sule cannot get caught flat-footed like that, but it was also a perfectly-weighted pass from Lars Stindl, who is one of the Bundesliga’s most steady and underrated players. It would not be the last time Stindl weighted a pass that caught Sule sleeping.

A questionable chipped pass attempt from Benjamin Pavard to Leroy Sane started the play that led to Hofmann’s goal.

The Stindl-to-Hofmann combination was not done yet – they victimized Sule once again right before halftime to knot the game at 2-2.

Stindl also showed great leadership, ensuring his teammates did not lose their confidence despite going two goals down.

He contested 11 duels, made one interception, and completed two clearances before departing the field for Hannes Wolf in the 82nd minute as Marco Rose sought to shut up the shop.

Hoffman was, however, the pick of the bunch on the field against Bayern Munich and showed great composure for his two finishes.

His awareness and sense of anticipation were also on display for the third goal, as he calmly dispossessed Sule before teeing Neuhaus up to score what proved to be the winner.

Before the dazed Bavarians had any time to react, Gladbach scored their third goal of the evening in the 49th with Neuhaus' thundering drive completing the hosts' sensational turnaround.

 “We ourselves are to blame for this defeat,” Bayern coach Hansi Flick said. “Gladbach were extremely efficient and they took full advantage of three mistakes we made.”

“After the 3-2 we never bounced back as we had hoped. Gladbach closed the spaces and played their counter attacks really well.”

“I am very happy for my players. In some games, until now we were missing a bit of luck. This time we carved it out ourselves,” Gladbach coach Marco Rose said.

“This game is a signal that we need to get stuck in there and keep working.”

The 5-goal thriller has opened the title race.

Bayern came into this clash with just one point more than second-placed RB Leipzig and would have sought a victory to solidify their spot at the summit.

However, they failed to do so, handing the advantage back to RB Leipzig, who can go top if they get a victory in their game on Saturday.

Julen Nagelsmann's side will, however, have to be at an optimum if they are to get all three points. They will square off with 4th-placed Borussia Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park in a clash that could have huge ramifications in the title race.

Despite being pacesetters at the start of the season Monchengladbach lost their momentum, but after the victory, last night would help them climb up to 7th on the standings, just one point behind Dortmund in 4th.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 09/01/2021 The 5-goal thriller at Borussia-Park

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Faisal Caesar