Borussia Mönchengladbach claimed a 4-1 victory against FC Schalke 04 on matchday 9 in the Bundesliga, with goals from Florian Neuhaus, Oscar Wendt, Marcus Thuram and Hannes Wolf getting the Foals back to winning ways in the league.
It was a slow start from Borussia against a Schalke side looking for their first Bundesliga win since beating the Foals back in January. The visitors almost took advantage of space afforded to them early on, but were unable to test Yann Sommer in goal. Gladbach were more clinical at the other end. Breel Embolo’s shot was parried back out to the edge of the box where Florian Neuhaus managed to squeeze it through a sea of blue to open the scoring (15’). The lead didn’t last long though. A misplaced pass from Marcus Thuram allowed Mark Uth to set up Benito Raman for a well-taken equaliser (20’). Uth then hit the post with a free-kick as Schalke threatened to go ahead, but Borussia nabbed the crucial next goal to take a 2-1 lead into the break, with Oscar Wendt firing home first-time from a perfectly weighted pass from Neuhaus (36’).
The Foals were able to carry their momentum into the second half and added a third shortly after the restart. A clever free-kick routine resulted in a chance for Alassane Plea and, although Frederik Rönnow made a save, fellow Frenchman Thuram was on hand to convert the rebound (56’). The third Gladbach goal clearly knocked the wind out of Schalke’s sails and the dangerous looking home side created a string of chances around the hour mark. Plea, Thuram and Patrick Herrmann all missed promising opportunities, however, while Neuhaus saw a stunning half-volley tipped over the top at full stretch. Goal four finally did arrive in the closing stages in similar style to Wendt’s, this time with Plea feeding substitute Hannes Wolf to drill a shot past the keeper and secure a comfortable 4-1 win.
TEAM NEWS
There were four changes to the side that started Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk. Stefan Lainer, Nico Elvedi, Christoph Kramer and Lars Stindl were all rested, with Tony Jantschke, Denis Zakaria, Patrick Herrmann and Alassane Plea coming in. It was Zakaria’s first start since his injury against Dortmund in March. Marco Rose remained without Jonas Hofmann (hamstring) and Ramy Bensebaini (coronavirus).
MATCH FACTS
Borussia: Sommer – Lazaro (65’ Lainer), Ginter, Jantschke, Wendt – Zakaria (65’ Kramer), Neuhaus (81’ Bénes) – Herrmann, Embolo (71’ Stindl), Thuram (71’ Wolf) – Plea
Schalke: Rönnow – Ludewig, Kabak, Nastasic, Thiaw – Mascarell, Serdar – Skrzybski (81’ Boujellab), Uth, Raman (63’ Schöpf) – Hoppe (81’ Schuler)
Goals: 1-0 Neuhaus (15’), 1-1 Raman (20’), 2-1 Wendt (36’), 3-1 Thuram (52’), 4-1 Wolf (80’)
Yellow cards: Lazaro, Thuram – Ludewig, Thiaw, Uth
Referee: Manuel Gräfe (Berlin)
Attendance: 0
