Matchday 30 in the Bundesliga saw Borussia Mönchengladbach beaten 3-2 away at TSG Hoffenheim, despite goals from Alassane Plea and Valentino Lazaro putting the Foals 2-0 up at half time.
The hosts had the better start in Sinsheim, with Christoph Baumgartner heading just wide of the post and Robert Skov’s deflected shot requiring the fingertips of Tobias Sippel to keep it out. Borussia were clinical when their chances came, however. Marcus Thuram got behind the defence and pulled the ball back to the edge of the box for Alassane Plea, whose shot took a nick off Stefan Posch to wrongfoot Oliver Baumann and find the back of the net. Despite leading, Gladbach remained on the backfoot and were lucky not to concede an equaliser when Ihlas Bebou’s shot rattled the post. In first-half stoppage time, Borussia registered just their second shot on target, yet that too resulted in a goal. Thuram was the orchestrator again, dribbling to the byline and crossing for Valentino Lazaro to finish inside the six-yard box.
The 2-0 lead flattered the Foals somewhat and Hoffenheim set about turning things around early in the second half. A corner eventually found its way to Andrej Kramaric and he was able to squeeze his shot past Sippel and Matthias Ginter on the line just three minutes after the restart. The home side then levelled the scores on the hour mark when Bebou got on the end of Pavel Kaderabek’s cross to convert from close range. The 17-minute comeback was completed soon after, again with Kaderabek delivering from the right flank and Kramaric drilling in a low finish for his second. Marco Rose turned to his bench in an attempt to swing the tide back in Gladbach’s favour, but the visitors struggled to provide any kind of response and TSG held out to claim all three points.
TEAM NEWS
There was just one change to the team that beat Eintracht Frankfurt, with Christoph Kramer returning from suspension and replacing Denis Zakaria. Yann Sommer served the second game of his two-match ban meaning Tobias Sippel continued in goal, while Lars Stindl also remained sidelined with a muscle strain. Torben Müsel and Julio Villalba continue to be unavailable as they work their way back to fitness.
MATCH FACTS
Hoffenheim: Baumann – Kaderabek, Posch, Richards, Sessegnon – Grillitsch, Samassekou – Skov (63’ Adamyan), Kramaric (90’ Bogarde), Baumgartner (84’ Nordtveit) – Bebou
Borussia: Sippel – Lainer (86’ Traoré), Ginter, Elvedi, Bensebaini (68’ Zakaria) – Kramer (74’ Herrmann), Neuhaus – Lazaro, Hofmann Plea (68’ Embolo) – Thuram (68’ Wolf)
Goals: 0-1 Plea (25’), 0-2 Lazaro (45+1’), 1-2 Kramaric (48’), 2-2 Bebou (60’), 3-2 Kramaric (65’)
Yellow cards: Grillitsch, Posch, Kaderabek
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)
Attendance: 0
