VfL goes down in the rain
Ice-cold Gladbachers punish harmless wolves
November 10, 2023, 10:20 p.m
The Foals are effective in the Gladbach rain: the first attack is against the Wolves, their goalkeeper Koen Casteels looks unhappy twice, but also shines. With the 4-0 win, Mönchengladbach moved level with the Mittellandkanal team in the Bundesliga table.
Borussia Mönchengladbach is still on the rise in the Bundesliga. At the start of the eleventh matchday, coach Gerardo Seoane’s team clearly defeated VfL Wolfsburg 4-0 (2-0) after two mistakes by goalkeeper Koen Casteels and, after seven points from the last three games, moved past Lower Saxony with the same points in the middle of the table.
Tomas Cvancara (16th), Rocco 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 recently only got one point from five matches and is increasingly losing sight of the international places.
Coach Niko Kovač’s team got off to a good start in front of 45,308 spectators at Borussia Park. Jakub Kaminski scored the first goal (5th). But after a quarter of an hour the hosts took command and took the lead with their first chance. A sharp cross from Honorat pushed Cvancara over the line in the style of a goalscorer.
Plea crowns his strong performance
Wolfsburg was shocked by the deficit and acted incorrectly. Gladbach almost doubled the lead just two minutes after taking the lead. Plea forced Casteels into a brilliant save. As a result, the encounter plodded along, with numerous professionals having problems standing on the wet grass. Wolfsburg struggled offensively. The shots from Maximilian Arnold (26th) and Jonas Wind (36th) were not really dangerous.
Mönchengladbach: Nicolas – Scally, Elvedi, Wöber (82nd Chiarodia) – Weigl, Honorat, Netz – Reitz (87th Ranos), Kone (77th Kramer) – Cvancara (77th Neuhaus), Plea (83rd Ngoumou); – Trainer: Seoane.
Wolfsburg: Casteels – Maehle, Bornauw, Zesiger, Rogerio (46th Cozza) – Vranckx, Arnold – Paredes (67th Cerny), Wind, Kaminski (55th Baku) – Tomas (54th Majer); – Trainer: Kovac.
referee: Felix Zwayer (Berlin)
Gates: 1:0 Cvancara (16th), 2:0 Reitz (42nd), 3:0 Honorat (64th), 4:0 Plea (71st)
Viewers: 45,308
yellow cards: Elvedi – Arnold (4), Vranckx (3), Cozza
On the other hand, Casteels made a strong save against Cvancara (38th), then the goalkeeper made a serious mistake on his comeback after a week-long injury break. Casteels played the ball right into Reitz’s feet in the penalty area, and the Gladbach homegrown player gratefully accepted the invitation. The 21-year-old celebrated his first Bundesliga goal with abandon.
Wolfsburg came out of the break swinging. Goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas had to stretch a lot when Aster Vranckx finished (46′). As a result, VfL remained dominant in the game, Borussia, like last week in Freiburg (3:3 after 3:1), became a bit passive for a short time and were lucky: a shot from Wind hit the outside post (53′).
Kovac then brought fresh forces with Ridle Baku and Lovro Majer. But Wolfsburg struggled to find gaps. At the other end, Honorat shot from distance after a corner, Casteels didn’t look good again. Plea then crowned his strong performance with the fourth goal.