The famous Cola can is in the club museum. Borussia has nothing good to do with her: in the 7-1 win against Inter Milan in October 1971, she met Italian Roberto Boninsegna from the stands. The result at that time was annulled, in the replay Gladbach was eliminated. On Tuesday evening, Borussia played against Inter again 49 years later, but again there was a sobering experience. Although one point would have helped in the dream of the round of 16, Borussia is now threatened by the 2: 3 (1: 1) defeat instead of the Champions League and thus slipping into the Europa League.
Gladbach will go into the final game as leaders of the table, but should it be lost at Real Madrid next Wednesday, Borussia will have to hope that Inter Milan will also draw against Shakhtar Donetsk. Only this result could help them then. If there were a winner in the parallel game, Gladbach would have to continue playing in the Europa League next year if they lost in Madrid. One point at Real, on the other hand, was enough for them to reach the Champions League round of 16. A crazy constellation.
The history of cans from back then continues to the present day. The night before the game, strangers had lit a fireworks display at the hotel where the Milanese stayed and poured tons of Coke cans in front of the entrance. The police are investigating. You couldn’t feel the sneaky sleep interruption from Inter’s footballers. All the greater was the challenge for the Gladbach central defense, in which the Swiss international Nico Elvedi was injured and was replaced by Matthias Ginter by Tony Jantschke.
They know they can keep up
Donekz’s second win against Madrid early Tuesday night had turned the group into a lottery. So much was still possible here before the final matchday that the nerves of those involved in Borussia-Park were strained. For Milan, the game was the last opportunity to keep chances of the knockout round. You could feel that of this game from the first second. In the light haze of the humid stadium air, fitting description: Fog of horror, the players literally stood on their feet.
Milan took over the direction. One noticed the Italians that they were under greater pressure to act. They routinely got Borussia into trouble and benefited from a ball over right from the fact that Matteo Darmian had a lot of space there, was able to finish before the approaching left-back Oscar Wendt and shoot the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Yann Sommer to make it 1-0 (17.). Such a deficit against counter-strong Milanese is not a very happy constellation, especially since the Gladbach team initially struggled with creative goal approach in the first half. Jantschke and Sommer even had to prevent a higher deficit.
Towards the end of the first half, the hosts slowly began to see that self-confidence that they had acquired in the two 2-2 draws at the start against Inter and Real as well as the two quick wins against Donetsk. They know that they can keep up and have now also created opportunities. In response to the late conceding goal in the first leg, they waited until the injury time of the first round with their 1-1 equalizer. Valentino Lazaro crossed from the right and found an astonishingly free Alassane Pléa in the center, who hit a header. An important goal.
With the restart, the original situation was repeated: Inter absolutely needed a win in order not to be out of the race early internationally. At Gladbach, they had to deal with Denis Zakaria in central defense, who came for Jantschke – as well as a chain of five. Borussia did not make the mistake of giving the Italians a lot of space again. They were now looking for happiness more on their own initiative. In the 51st minute, Marcus Thuram almost scored for the opening goal, but twisted slightly. Trying to score the winning goal against latently lurking Milanese is a highly dangerous balancing act. In the 61st minute, they were still lucky: Lautaro Martinez’s flick hit the post. In the 64th minute, however, luck no longer helped: Romelu Lukaku made his way into the penalty area and shot flat to make it 2-1.
In the 73rd minute, Lukaku apparently made everything clear with the 3-1 and his second goal. But Pléa shortened to 2: 3 (76th minute) and even scored the alleged equalizer in the 83rd minute, but because Breel Embolo was millimeters offside and the referee, according to the video images, was of the opinion that he was doing Inter goalkeeper Handanovic handicapped, the beautiful hit was not recognized.
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