Ten-man Borussia Mönchengladbach held on to secure a 3-1 over RB Leipzig, denting the visitors’ Champions League hopes in the process. The ‘Roten Bullen’ sit in 5th place in the Bundesliga with two games left, one point adrift of the top four.
Gladback started the brighter of the two sides, with Leipzig showing some signs of a European hangover from their win over Rangers on Thursday night. This early eagerness led to the hosts scoring after 17 minutes. Lars Stindl received the ball outside the box and, just before he was tackled, he poked a ball through to Breel Embolo, who beat Peter Gulácsi to make it 1-0. The visitors levelled things up after 35 minutes, against the run of play, as André Silva lobbed a perfect ball over the top for Christopher Nkunku, who rifled the ball past Yann Sommer. Leipzig suffered another setback on the stroke of HT, when Jonas Hofmann timed his run perfectly to meet Embolo’s pass. With all the time in the world, the midfielder calmly stroked the ball past Gulácsi.
The second half started with the same physicality as the first, with neither side allowing each other a moment to breathe. For Leipzig, there was a growing sense of urgency, with control of their European fate slowly slipping away. Silva thought he had found the equaliser when he connected with a cross at the back post, but Sommer got his hands up quickly to flick the ball onto the bar. The hosts’ task of defending their slender advantage was made harder when Nico Elvedi was sent off, bringing down Nkunku as the last man on the edge of the area. In their attempts to equalise, Leipzig were caught out at the back, with Hoffman scoring his second of the night. The German was picked out in the box and fired the ball across the face of goal and found the bottom left corner.
The result means very little for the home side, although they do jump up to tenth place, while Domenico Tedesco’s Leipzig will now have to rely on Freiburg dropping points in their final two games to secure Champions League football. Therefore, their Europa League semi-final second leg in three days could be even more crucial as they aim to book a place in Europe’s premier club competition.
