Stunning fightback as Foals beat Bayern 3-2

Matchday 15 in the Bundesliga kicked off in style on Friday night, with Borussia Mönchengladbach producing a remarkable comeback to beat FC Bayern Munich 3-2 from two goals down.

The Foals actually made a promising start against the league leaders at BORUSSIA-PARK, but a lapse in focus led to a quickfire double blow. Florian Neuhaus’ instincts took over as he inexplicably handled a lofted pass in the penalty area, allowing Robert Lewandowski to open the scoring from the spot after 20 minutes. Bayern followed up soon after with a powerful Leon Goretzka shot zipping past a motionless Yann Sommer (26’). Despite the scoreline, Borussia continued to play with belief and probed at the visitors’ infamous high line time and again. Finally, the ball and the run matched up as Lars Stindl sent Jonas Hofmann in behind, and he kept his cool to beat Manuel Neuer (36’). The comeback was even completed before the break. Again it was Stindl with the perfectly-timed through ball to feed Hofmann, with the same end result. VAR did have to intervene to award the goal though following an incorrect offside call from the linesman (45’).

Borussia came out of the interval still fired up and a wonderful 20-yard strike from Neuhaus into the top corner soon fired them into a stunning 3-2 lead, more than making up for his earlier mistake (49’). The focus for Marco Rose’s Foals was now to keep things tight and look for counterattacking opportunities. A first-time shot by Stindl from Stefan Lainer’s pull-back around the hour mark was a little too far out to trouble Neuer this time, and it was also Gladbach’s last real chance. Sommer and his back four had their work cut out for them as the clock slowly ticked away, with Bayern pumping cross after cross into the Borussia box. The Foals’ goalkeeper ultimately had little to do, however, saving once from a relatively tame Thomas Müller header. Instead, his defence put their bodies on the line, battling hard to win countless aerial duels and being in the right place at the right time, notably when Matthias Ginter cleared off the line from Niklas Süle’s stoppage-time header. The hosts deservedly held out to claim back-to-back home wins over FC Bayern, also becoming the only club to beat them twice under Hansi Flick.

TEAM NEWS

Marco Rose made two changes to the side that beat Bielefeld last weekend. Ramy Bensebaini was fit to start, coming in at left-back for Oscar Wendt, and Denis Zakaria was given the nod to play ahead of Patrick Herrmann. The latter saw Jonas Hofmann pushed into a more advanced role, making room in the midfield three for the big Swiss.

The Foals remained without Marcus Thuram (suspended) and Valentino Lazaro (muscular problems), but a muscle issue also meant that Alassane Plea dropped out of contention at short notice.

MATCH FACTS

Borussia: Sommer – Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi, Bensebaini (89’ Wendt) – Kramer, Zakaria (73’ Herrmann) – Neuhaus, Stindl (81’ Wolf), Hofmann (89’ Jantschke) – Embolo

FC Bayern: Neuer – Pavard, Süle, Alaba, Davies – Goretzka, Kimmich, Sané, Müller, Douglas Costa (68’ Coman) – Lewandowski

Goals: 0-1 Lewandowski (21’, pen.), 0-2 Goretzka (26’), 1-2 Hofmann (36’), 2-2 Hofmann (45+1’), 3-2 Neuhaus (49’)

Yellow cards: Ginter – Süle

Referee: Harm Osmers (Hannover)

Attendance: 0

Robert Lewandowski put Bayern 1-0 ahead with his 20th Bundesliga goal of the season
Jonas Hofmann's brace level the scores before the half-time whistle
Florian Neuhaus celebrates his match-winner early in the second half

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