Borussia Mönchengladbach continues its upward momentum in the Bundesliga.
Coach Gerardo Seoane’s team defeated VfL Wolfsburg 4-0 (2-0) at the start of the eleventh matchday after two mistakes by goalkeeper Koen Casteels, moving past their Lower Saxony rivals, who are level on points, in the middle of the table with seven points from their last three games.
“I’ve always dreamed of scoring my first goal here. I’m very happy that I was able to help the team,” Gladbach goal scorer Rocco Reitz told DAZN: ‘We did really well.’ Borussia only lost control for ”a few minutes after halftime.”
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 has now only picked up one point from its last five games and is slipping further and further out 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 had the first shot on goal (5th minute). But after a quarter of an hour, the hosts took control and took the lead with their first chance. Cvancara pushed a sharp cross from Honorat over the line in the style of a true striker.
Wolfsburg looked shocked by the setback and made mistakes. Gladbach almost doubled their lead just two minutes after taking the lead. Plea forced Casteels into a brilliant save.
The game then petered out, with numerous players struggling for grip on the wet turf. Wolfsburg struggled to create chances, with Maximilian Arnold (26′) and Jonas Wind (36′) failing to really threaten the goal.
At the other end, Casteels made a strong save against Cvancara (38), but then the goalkeeper made a costly mistake on his comeback after weeks out with injury. Casteels played the ball straight to Reitz’s feet in the penalty area, and the Gladbach youth product gratefully accepted the invitation. The 21-year-old celebrated his first Bundesliga goal exuberantly.
Wolfsburg came out of the break with momentum. Goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas had to stretch to save a shot from Aster Vranckx (46′). VfL continued to dominate the game, while Borussia, as in last week’s match in Freiburg (3-3 after 3-1), briefly became somewhat passive and was lucky: a shot from Wind hit the outside post (53′).
Kovac brought on Ridle Baku and Lovro Majer to freshen things up. But Wolfsburg struggled to find gaps. Honorat shot from distance after a corner, and Casteels once again looked shaky. Plea then capped his strong performance with the fourth goal.