Berlin (Germany), January 23: Second-half goals from Ramy Bensebaini and Marcus Thuram helped Borussia Monchengladbach to overcome Borussia Dortmund following a six-goal thriller in the opener of the 18th round in Bundesliga on Friday.
The Foals needed no warm-up time and thought they had broken the deadlock less than a minute into the game, but Florian Neuhaus' opener was disallowed due to a foul from Jonas Hofmann in the build-up.
Marco Rose's men overran Dortmund's defense in the opening period as the hosts eventually opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Hofmann's pinpoint free-kick into the box allowed Nico Elvedi to nod home.
The BVB suddenly came back to life and restored parity with their first chance as Jadon Sancho's through ball found Erling Haaland, who chipped the ball past Monchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer in the 22nd minute.
The equalizer shocked the hosts meanwhile Dortmund gained momentum and turned the tides only six minutes later when Haaland made the most of Sancho's second assist of the night.
Dortmund's lead didn't last long though as Monchengladbach responded well and made it 2-2 after Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki parried a Lars Stindl free-kick into the path of Elvedi, who tapped home his brace from very close range in the 32nd minute.
Both sides continued to trade attacks but neither Sancho nor Neuhaus was able to break the tie before halftime.
After the restart, Monchengladbach once again grabbed a good start into the clash as Bensebaini had time and space inside the box to surprise Burki with a curl into the far post corner despite a lot of traffic inside the box in the 50th minute.
The hosts retracted with the lead and handed over control but for all that Dortmund failed to penetrate Monchengladbach's well-positioned defense.
Dortmund had to wait until the 75th minute to produce its next clear-cut opportunity as Raphael Guerreiro's long-rang strike forced Sommer to make a diving safe.
At the other end of the pitch, Monchengladbach showed its efficiency and put the result beyond doubt as Thuram headed home Neuhaus' corner with 79 minutes gone.
With the result, Monchengladbach climb to fourth whereas Dortmund slip to the fifth spot in the Bundesliga standings.
"It was an intense see-saw game, but we had to swallow too many setbacks to win this game," Dortmund caretaker manager Edin Terzic said.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: Freiburg host Stuttgart, Bayer Leverkusen encounter Wolfsburg, Arminia Bielefeld see Eintracht Frankfurt, Mainz meet runner up Leipzig, Augsburg take on Union Berlin and Hertha Berlin face Werder Bremen.
Source: Xinhua
