Borussia win last pre-season friendly 2-1 against Groningen

The Foals recorded a 2-1 win in their final friendly of pre-season against Dutch top-flight side FC Groningen.

More than 5,000 spectators were present at BORUSSIA-PARK as the visitors enjoyed the better start to the game. After 15 minutes, however, it was Gladbach who took the lead through captain Lars Stindl. Shortly before half time, the lead was doubled thanks to a Groningen own goal. Both goals were set up by Patrick Herrmann. Four minutes into the second half, Michael de Leeuw halved the deficit for Groningen, but Borussia stayed in control of the game, which ended 2-1.

Team news

Aside from Jonas Hofmann, all of this week’s EURO returnees were in the starting XI. Yann Sommer between the sticks behind a back four of Stefan Lainer, Matthias Ginter, Nico Elvedi and Joe Scally. In defensive midfield, Christoph Kramer lined up alongside Florian Neuhaus, while Patrick Herrmann and Hannes Wolf occupied the wings. Lars Stindl and Marcus Thuram started up front.

Injuries

Denis Zakaria (coronavirus), Alassane Plea (knee capsule injury), Manu Koné (knee ligament injury), Breel Embolo (muscle and tendon injury in the hamstring), Ramy Bensebaini (hamstring injury) and Mamadou Doucouré (recovering from Achilles tendon tear) were all unavailable.