As we take a look back at the year 2021, we cast our gaze once again over July and August. Several Foals represented their countries at the EUROs. New head coach Adi Hütter arrived at BORUSSIA-PARK and began preparations for the new season.
On the pitch:
Eleven Foals were in action for their respective countries at EURO 2020. László Bénes and Slovakia didn't make it out of the groups, while Austria's Valentino Lazaro and Stefan Lainer, who scored once during the group stage, reached the round of 16. They were then knocked out in extra time against eventual champions, Italy. Germany and Matthias Ginter, Florian Neuhaus and Jonas Hofmann were also eliminated in the round of 16. Ginter was the only Foal to feature, as Hofmann missed out through injury and Neuhaus was an unused substitute. Marcus Thuram and France were eliminated by Switzerland after a thrilling round of 16 encounter against his Borussia teammates Yann Sommer, Nico Elvedi, Denis Zakaria und Breel Embolo. Thuram scored in the penalty shootout, but Sommer was able to save Kylian Mbappé's final spot-kick, sending Switzerland through to the quarterfinals where they would come up against Spain. Sommer was called upon to make more big stops in another shootout, but three missed spot-kicks from Switzerland saw them exit the competition. Breel Embolo also picked up an injury against Spain, having scored once in the group stage. Denis Zakaria also scored an unfortunate own goal.
July marked the start of a new chapter at Borussia. On 3rd July, new head coach Adi Hütter took charge of his first training sessions with the team as pre-season got underway. After training camp in Harsewinkel and friendlies against Viktoria Köln (2-2), SC Paderborn (3-1 loss), Metz (1-0 win), Bayern (2-0 win) and Groningen (2-1 win), the Foals were ready to contest their first competition game of the season in early August. Gladbach recorded a 1-0 win in the first round of the DFB-Pokal against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. They also got off to a promising start in the Bundesliga, holding record champions Bayern to a 1-1 draw. However, Borussia were unable to maintain this momentum in the following weeks. Defeats away at Bayer Leverkusen (4-0) and Union Berlin (2-1) were surmounted by serious injuries to Marcus Thuram and Stefan Lainer.
Memorable moments:
Borussia needed just 10 minutes to score their first goal of the 2021/22 Bundesliga season. A long ball from Patrick Herrmann was redirected by Lars Stindl, as Alassane Plea slotted it past Manuel Neuer to open the scoring (see photo above). For the first time since Henning Jensen managed the feat in 1975, a Borussia player scored the first goal of a Bundesliga season. Since 2013, this honour had exclusively gone to an FC Bayern player.
Off the pitch:
In words:
Patrick Herrmann: "Making 300 Bundesliga appearances for one club is definitely something I'm proud of. These days, there's a lot of transfers. Many players spend maybe one, two or even three years at a club before moving. I'm very happy that that wasn't the case for me. I wouldn't want to have missed a second of my time at Borussia."
