Borussia Mönchengladbach screwed up the dress rehearsal for the showdown at Real Madrid in the premier class.
Four days before the decisive Champions League group game at the Royal, the team of coach Marco Rose at SC Freiburg only came to a flattering 2: 2 (1: 1) and thus continued their negative streak in the Bundesliga in Breisgau.
Embolo and Plea meet for Gladbach
Breel Embolos hit (23rd) and a dream goal by Alassane Plea (50th) were not enough for Borussia to win their first victory in the upper house since March 2002 in Freiburg. The foals have to fight in the “final” against the star ensemble around national player Toni Kroos Wednesday (live on Sky) increase significantly. Freiburg is still waiting for the second win of the season despite goals from Philipp Lienhart (32nd) and Vincenzo Grifo (49th, penalty kick).
Rose did without major interplay in the Breisgau. Compared to the defeat against Inter Milan (2: 3) during the week, the Borussia coach only took Marcus Thuram and Valentino Lazaro out of the starting line-up, and the ailing Tony Jantschke had to pass. Denis Zakaria, Breel Embolo and Hannes Wolf rotated into the team for this.
Before kick-off, Rose had warned of “unpleasant” Freiburgers – not without reason. Coach Christian Streich’s team got off to a promising start, showed good grip in the duels and put the Gladbach defense around substitute central defender Christoph Kramer under pressure early on.
Höhler hits the post
Lucas Höler (15th), however, missed the huge chance to take the lead: The SC striker ran up to Yann Sommer on his own, hit the post and unluckily pushed the rebound over the goal. After the wake-up call, the Gladbachers struck with their first well thought-out offensive action, Embolo finished flat in the corner after a worth seeing interaction with captain Lars Stindl.
However, this did not change the sedate demeanor of the guests. Gladbach continued to disappoint offensively and revealed large gaps on the defensive. In the deals of Ermedin Demirovic (27th) and Vincenzo Grifo (31st), Sommer still saved, but he was powerless against Lienhart’s header after an overhead kick from Baptiste Santamaria.
After the extremely happy draw at the break, Stindl and Co. initially had problems after the break. Grifo rewarded Freiburg with a penalty after Stefan Lainer fouled the strong Nicolas Höfler. Plea had the answer ready: The Frenchman flicked the ball from the edge of the box into the corner.
Gladbach then acted a little more aggressively, Oscar Wendt (61st) and Patrick Herrmann (84th, 90th + 1) gave the best chances from close range. The Freiburgers, who were further whipped by Streich, remained uncomfortable. Rose finally brought Thuram and Lazaro for more offensive power.
Sport-Informations-Service (SID)
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