Confident Gladbach roll over Leipzig
Amid the storylines surrounding Marco Rose's return and Max Eberl's upcoming departure to the Red Bull club, Gladbach put on a show for their lively home supporters at Borussia-Park with a 3-0 win over Leipzig.
| Jonas Hofmann. | Photo: Sven Mandel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
In the opening minutes, Nico Elvedi connected brilliantly with his head from a corner, but Peter Gulacsi reacted well and tipped the effort over the bar. But, Gladbach kept pushing.
Joe Scally's excellent cross found Marcus Thuram and Hofmann powered home the rebound in the 10th minute to give Gladbach an early advantage. It was an up-and-down first quarter hour of play, as Gvardiol nearly converted from a set-piece a few moments later.
In the blink of an eye, Hofmann secured his brace in a blazing 35th minute Gladbach counterattack after David Raum's error. A great finish that was all set up by a picture-perfect pass from Thuram, who consistently gave Leipzig headaches in the opening period.
It was a deserved 2-0 lead for a really confident Gladbach side at the half, as Leipzig's defense simply had no answers whatsoever. The endless action in the first 45 was very enjoyable to watch with both defenses getting pulled apart at every possible opportunity.
In the first few minutes of the second half, Silva and Dominik Szoboszlai had Leipzig's best chances of the game, but Yann Sommer stood strong. After Hofmann nearly scored his third of the day, Ramy Bensebaini's calm finish extended Gladbach's advantage in the 53rd minute.
Rose's nightmare continued, as Leipzig could not thwart Gladbach's potent play from corners. Both clubs could've added more to the scoresheet in the late stages of the contest, but it was not meant to be. Gladbach's 3-0 dominating win is a statement that a return to European football is potentially on the horizon for Daniel Farke and his team.
With many upset over Sporting Director Max Eberl's impending move to Leipzig, this was a really important win and clean sheet for Gladbach and their fans. Farke got the better of Rose in this battle of new head coaches, as Gladbach now jump to 6th in the table. Leipzig enter the international break in 12th and will have to get back to the drawing board once again.
