Borussia Mönchengladbach are still on the upswing in the Bundesliga.
Coach Gerardo Seoane’s team defeated VfL Wolfsburg 4:0 (2:0) to open the eleventh matchday after two mistakes by goalkeeper Koen Casteels and, with seven points from the last three games, moved past the Lower Saxony side, who are level on points, in mid-table.
“I’ve always dreamed of scoring my first goal here. I’m very happy that I was able to help the team,” said Gladbach’s goalscorer Rocco Reitz on DAZN: “We did really well.” Borussia only lost control for “a few minutes after half-time”.
Tomas Cvancara (16′), Reitz (42′), Franck Honorat (64′) and Alassane Plea (71′) scored the goals for the five-time German champions. After a good start to the season, Wolfsburg recently picked up just one point from five matches and are increasingly losing sight of the international places.
Coach Niko Kovac’s team got off to a good start in front of 45,308 spectators at Borussia-Park. Jakub Kaminski created the first goal (5′). However, the hosts took control after a quarter of an hour and took the lead with their first chance. A sharp cross from Honorat was pushed over the line by Cvancara in the style of a goal scorer.
Wolfsburg were shocked by the deficit and made mistakes. Gladbach almost went one better just two minutes after taking the lead. Plea forced Casteels into a brilliant save.
After that, the match lumbered along, with many of the professionals struggling to find their feet on the wet pitch. Wolfsburg struggled offensively. The shots from Maximilian Arnold (26) and Jonas Wind (36) were not really dangerous.
At the other end, Casteels made a strong save against Cvancara (38′), but then the goalkeeper made a serious mistake on his comeback after weeks out injured. Casteels played the ball right into Reitz’s feet in the penalty area and Gladbach’s home-grown player gratefully accepted the invitation. The 21-year-old celebrated his first Bundesliga goal with exuberance.
Wolfsburg came out of the break full of energy. Goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas had to stretch mightily to save Aster Vranckx’s shot (46′). VfL continued to dominate the game, while Borussia briefly became a little passive, as they did last week in Freiburg (3:3 after 3:1), and were lucky: a shot from Wind touched the far post (53′).
Kovac then brought on fresh forces in the shape of Ridle Baku and Lovro Majer. But Wolfsburg struggled to find any gaps. At the other end, Honorat fired over from distance after a corner, but Casteels again did not look good. Plea then crowned his strong performance with the fourth goal