Gladbach get off the mark
Mönchengladbach - Four first-half goals, including three in four minutes, gave Borussia Mönchengladbach their first points of the season with a 4-2 win over FC Augsburg on Wednesday, and provided interim boss Andre Schubert with a dream start.
BORUSSIA MÖNCHENGLADBACH 4-2 FC AUGSBURG
Goals: 1-0 Johnson (5’), 2-0 Xhaka (17’), 3-0 Stindl (19’), 4-0 Dahoud (21’), 4-1 Verhaegh (pen. 52’), 4-2 Verhaegh (pen. 75’)
Teams under new management usually get a boost, but few inside Borussia-Park could have anticipated the rapid and radical form that lift would take. Fabian Johnson fired home crisply when Raffael's shot had been deflected into his path before Granit Xhaka stole in behind a static visiting defence to glance in a Raffael free-kick. Like VfL Wolfsburg in Munich 24 hours earlier, Augsburg had no answer to their opponents, though few teams would have been able to prevent Lars Stindl brilliantly curling home a third. Mahmoud Dahoud's low drive made it 4-0 with barely 20 minutes on the clock and the Gladbach fans barely able to believe their eyes.
Dominik Kohr and Tim Matavz had both been unable to take first-half chances, but Paul Verhaegh did not pass up the one afforded him when Ji Dong-Won was fouled in the box, sweeping the ball past Yann Sommer from the spot. Hitz neatly parried Raffael's close-range header, turned aside Stindl’'s measured shot and brilliantly tipped away Ibrahima Traore's low shot before Verhaegh netted another penalty with 15 minutes left, this time for a foul Ja-Cheol Koo. Raffael's stinging half-volley rapped Hitz's crossbar in the final ten minutes as Gladbach snuffed out the visitors' hopes of a miraculous comeback.
Man of the Match
A maiden Bundesliga goal in his seventh appearance was just desserts for Dahoud. Alongside Xhaka, the 19-year-old looks like he may form the sort of formidable midfield partnership the Swiss international had with Christoph Kramer.
Talking point
You wonder why it took Lucien Favre's resignation for Gladbach to recapture anything like the form they had shown under the Swiss last season.
Match stats
- The game was the first in eight competitive outings this season that Gladbach had taken the lead.Three Koreans started for Augsburg, a Bundesliga first.Dahoud registered his first Bundesliga goalThe game was Augsburg defender Ragnar Klavan’s 100th in the German top flight
Line-ups
Mönchengladbach: Sommer - Korb, Christensen, Alvaro Dominguez, Wendt - Xhaka (Nordtveit 77’), Dahoud - Herrmann (Hahn 56’), Johnson (Traore 59’) - Stindl, Raffael
Augsburg: Hitz - Verhaegh, Hong, Klavan, Stafylidis (Feulner 46’) - Baier - Esswein (Max 71’), Kohr (Mölders 80’), Koo, Ji - Matavz
