Jonas Hofmann hits a hat-trick as Borussia Mönchengladbach dispatch Mainz to go second

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Jonas Hofmann was the star of the show in Matchday 8’s final game, his hat-trick helping Borussia Mönchengladbach to a 4-0 win over Mainz to take the Foals into second in the table.

Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-0 Mainz

Goals: 1-0 Hofmann (21’), 2-0 Hofmann (53’), 3-0 Hazard (58’), 4-0 Hofmann (63’)

Mainz had not scored a goal in four matches but they began the match pressing high and forcing the Foals into errors. Jean-Philippe Mateta almost punished a Foals mistake when he shot wide and Jonathan Burkhardt’s header drew a good save from Yann Sommer. Borussia looked threatening themselves, however, and a superb team goal, finished by Hofmann from Thorgan Hazard’s through ball, put them in front on 21 minutes.

Mainz competed well in midfield and played plenty of nice football, but a familiar failing – a lack of incision in the final third – was their undoing. Their challenge was then dealt a fatal blow with a five-minute double salvo, as Hofmann tapped in another Hazard cross before the Belgian then converted coolly from Alassane Plea’s cross. By that time the floodgates had opened and Hofmann completed his hat-trick by sprinting clear to round Florian Müller and score into an empty net. Mainz’s confidence was shot by this point and Borussia might have added a fifth through Plea, though the four-goal margin was more than a fair reflection of proceedings.

Match stats

    Gladbach have won all four of their home games this season and six in a row stretching back to last season, their best run of results at home for two and half years.The hosts become only the second team of the last 12 clubs to have beaten Bayern in the league to win their following Bundesliga match.The Foals have now scored in 14 league games in a row, currently the longest such streak in the Bundesliga.Hofmann’s goal, in his 59th appearance for Gladbach, was his first from open play. The 26-year-old also scored his first Bundesliga hat-trick and set a new personal best of four goals in a season.Hofmann also scored in this fixture in a 1-1 draw in 2014/15 as a Mainz player on loan from Borussia Dortmund.Ibrahima Traore came off the bench to make his 100th competitive appearance for Gladbach.

Line-ups

Gladbach: Sommer – Lang (Jantschke 81'), Ginter, Elvedi, Wendt – Hofmann, Strobl, Neuhaus (Zakaria 70'), Hazard – Stindl (Traore 66') (c), Plea
Unused substitutes: Sippel, Kramer, Herrmann, Johnson,
Absentees: Beyer (hip), Raffael (calf)
Coach: Dieter Hecking

Mainz: Müller – Brosinski, Bell (c), Niakhate, Martin – Kunde (Latza 59'), Gbamin, Baku (Mwene 76') – Boëtius, Mateta, Burkhardt (Öztunali 59')
Unused substitutes: Zentner, Latza, Maxim, Onisiwo, Ujah
Absentees: Adler (knee), Berggreen (muscular), Bungert (calf), Holtmann (foot)
Coach: Sandro Schwarz

Watch: Thorgan Hazard on Gladbach's stellar start to 2018/19

As it happened

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