Borussia Mönchengladbach continue to rise in the Bundesliga.
The team of coach Gerardo Seoane defeated VfL Wolfsburg 4-0 (2-0) at the start of the eleventh matchday after two mistakes by goalkeeper Koen Casteels and, after seven points from the last three games, overtook the Lower Saxony team, which is level on points, in the middle of the table.
“I’ve always dreamed of scoring my first goal here. I’m very happy that I was able to help the team,” Gladbach scorer Rocco Reitz told DAZN: ‘We did really well.’ Borussia only lost control for ‘a few minutes after halftime,’ he said.
Tomas Cvancara (16th), Reitz (42nd), Franck Honorat (64th) and Alassane Plea (71st) scored the goals for the five-time German champions. After a good start to the season, Wolfsburg have only managed to get one point out of five matches and are increasingly losing sight of the international places.
The team of coach Niko Kovac got off to a good start in front of 45,308 spectators at Borussia-Park. Jakub Kaminski provided the first shot on target (5th minute). But after fifteen minutes, the hosts took command 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 appeared shell-shocked by the setback and made a number of mistakes. Gladbach almost doubled their lead just two minutes later when Plea forced Casteels into a brilliant save.
After that, the game petered out, with numerous professionals struggling on the wet pitch. Wolfsburg had difficulties in offense. The shots from Maximilian Arnold (26′) and Jonas Wind (36′) were not really dangerous.
On the other side, Casteels made a strong save against Cvancara (38th), but then the goalkeeper made a serious mistake on his comeback after weeks of injury. Casteels played the ball to Reitz exactly in the penalty area, and the Gladbach native gratefully accepted the invitation. The 21-year-old celebrated his first Bundesliga goal exuberantly.
Wolfsburg came out of the break energetically. When Aster Vranckx took the ball, goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas had to stretch mightily (46′). VfL continued to dominate the game, and, as in the previous week in Freiburg (3:3 after 3:1), Borussia became a bit passive for a short time and had to play for luck: a shot from Wind touched the far post (53′).
Kovac brought on fresh forces with Ridle Baku and Lovro Majer. But Wolfsburg found it difficult to find gaps. Honorat took a corner from a distance on the other side, Casteels once again did not look good. After that, Plea crowned his strong performance with the fourth goal.