Lars Stindl (r.) scored one and made another as Borussia Mönchengladbach came from behind to beat SV Darmstadt 98. - © © gettyimages / Lars Baron
Lars Stindl (r.) scored one and made another as Borussia Mönchengladbach came from behind to beat SV Darmstadt 98. - © © gettyimages / Lars Baron

Ten-man Gladbach beat Darmstadt in end-of-year thriller

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Borussia Mönchengladbach rounded off the 2015 Bundesliga calendar in some style, coming from behind with ten men to beat SV Darmstadt 98 3-2 on Sunday evening.

Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-2 SV Darmstadt 98

Goals: 0-1 Heller (28’), 1-1 Stindl (44’), 2-1 Nordtveit (51’), 2-2 Wagner (67’), 3-2 Wendt (86')

Sent off: Xhaka (38’)

Gladbach started brightly in the final Bundesliga match of the year and carved out the first real chance of the game when Fabian Johnson pulled the ball back to Raffael, whose drilled first-time effort from the edge of the box went narrowly wide. Yet it was Darmstadt who took the lead, Marcel Heller darting in front of Julian Korb to fire in Sandro Wagner’s flick-on from a throw-in. Gladbach’s afternoon went from bad to worse just before the break when captain Granit Xhaka was shown a straight red card.

However, attacker Lars Stindl gave the hosts a lifeline with a superb equaliser from the edge of the box. Another outrageous goal, this time a long-range free-kick from Havard Nordtveit, put the Foals in front in the second half, but Darmstadt leveled matters again when Sandro Wagner nodded in Heller’s pinpoint cross. A frenetic finale ensued, but Gladbach took all three points when Oscar Wendt fired home following a neat one-two with Stindl.

Man of the match

Stindl has been a revelation at Gladbach since his summer move from Hannover 96 and here it was easy to see why he is already a mainstay in the first team. The 27-year-old's superb equaliser gave the hosts a psychological boost just before the break, and his excellent pass to Wendt teed up the winner

Talking point

Gladbach came from behind to win with ten men for the first time ever in Bundesliga history.

Match stats

    Eight of Darmstadt’s 17 league goals this season have stemmed from dead ball situations (47 per cent). Xhaka has been sent off three times already in the Bundesliga in 2015/16.Nordtveit has now scored three league goals this term – his best ever single-season

Line-ups

Gladbach: Sommer – Korb, Christensen, Elvedi, Wendt – Hazard (Brouwers 73’), Nordtveit, Xhaka (c), Johnson – Stindl (Dahoud 88’), Raffael (Drmic 90’)

Darmstadt: Mathenia – Garics, Sulu (c), Caldirola, Holland – Gondorf, Niemeyer (Vrancic 55’) – Heller, Rosenthal, Kempe (Rausch 77’) - Wagner