Borussia Mönchengladbach recorded their first Bundesliga win of the season on matchday 3, beating 1. FC Köln 3-1 in the Rhine derby. Alassane Plea, Stefan Lainer and Lars Stindl were on the scoresheet for the Foals.
Around 300 home fans were in attendance in Cologne, but there was little for them to shout about in the first half. Borussia started strongly and could have scored a couple of early goals If not for saves from Timo Horn, while Lars Stindl also had a rebound cleared off the line. The opening goal wasn’t far behind though. A long ball put Jonas Hofmann in behind and he chose to lay the ball off for Alassane Plea, who unleashed an unstoppable low shot to make it 1-0 after 14 minutes. It turned into a quickfire double too, when Hofmann’s corner was flicked home at the near post by Stefan Lainer. The Foals were lucky not to concede soon after when Andersson hit the post after a loose touch from Yann Sommer, but otherwise Marco Rose’s side comfortably took their lead into the break.
Gladbach picked up where they left off in the second 45, with Marcus Thuram’s quick feet winning a penalty in the 56th minute. Captain Stindl stepped up to send Horn the wrong way and all but wrap up three points for the foals. The tempo of the game dropped somewhat with the three-goal cushion, and only a late goal back from Elvis Rexhbecaj could take a little shine off of a commanding derby win that earns the Foals their first league victory of the season.
TEAM NEWS
Marco Rose didn’t make any changes to the side that started against Union Berlin last weekend. The boss was still without Denis Zakaria (recovery training), Valentino Lazaro (calf), László Bénes (ankle), Andreas Poulsen (shoulder), Julio Villalba (muscular problems) and Jordan Beyer (coronavirus). Breel Embolo was back in the squad, however, and came on for the final minutes.
MATCH FACTS
Borussia: Sommer, Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi, Bensebaini, Kramer, Neuhaus, Hofmann (88’ Traoré), Stindl (77’ Wolf), Thuram (69’ Herrmann), Plea (88’ Embolo)
Köln: Horn, Sörensen, Bornauw, Czichos (46’ Wolf), Horn, Skhiri (86’ Höger), Rexhbecaj, Ehizibue (66’ Limnios), Duda (77’ Thielmann), Drexler (77’ Arokodare), Andersson
Goals: 0-1 Plea (14’), 0-2 Lainer (16’), 0-3 Stindl (56’), 1-3 Rexhbecaj (84’)
Yellow cards: Bensebaini, Herrmann, Lainer / Ehizibue, Rexhbecaj, Sörensen
Referee: Marco Fritz (Korb)
Attendance: 300
