Gladbach made it to the Champions League round of 16 for the first time since 1977
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Real’s Lucas Vazquez (r.) Prevails against Lars Stindl
Source: AFP
Despite a poor performance in Madrid, Borussia Mönchengladbach moves into the knockout round of the premier football class. In the end, coach Rose’s team benefited from a draw in Milan. FC Bayern can also celebrate.
Borussia Mönchengladbach has achieved something historical. For the first time in 43 years, the club reached the last sixteen of the Champions League.
Marco Rose’s team lost 2-0 (2-0) at Real Madrid on Wednesday evening, but benefited from the draw in the parallel game between Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk.
This time, after strong appearances in the preliminary round, luck was there at least in the last group game at the premier class record winner. Due to the 0-0 draw of the group opponents in Milan, Gladbach remained second behind Real (10) with eight points after six games, despite the defeats in the previous week against Inter (2: 3) and now in Madrid.
The goals of the French star striker Karim Benzema (9th minute / 32nd) were just as painful in the end as unusual offensive weaknesses. After 14 competitive games in a row with at least one goal, the eleven from the Niederrhein went empty-handed this time.
Great intake
Nevertheless, Borussia will be in the round of 16 pots on Monday and can also look forward to further income of 9.5 million euros in addition to the around 32 million euros earned so far. Rose and his players would have liked to have earned this with a courageous appearance at the 13-time “Henkelpott” winner. But the Gladbachers were too nervous for that on Wednesday.
Before kick-off, Rose wanted to set an example with his line-up. In captain Lars Stindl, Champions League top scorer Alassane Plea, Marcus Thuram and Breel Embolo, all of his offensive power was deployed to set the direction. “That’s what defines us. We want to stay with ourselves, ”said the Borussia coach before the game at DAZN.
In addition, he promised stability for the last defensive defense of starting XI returnees Nico Elvedi. After a ten-day injury break, the Swiss central defender was back in the starting eleven in the preliminary round, but didn’t seem really fit and allowed Rodrygo to cross Rodrygo before Benzema’s second goal. In general, the Gladbachers were too passive and hesitant in crucial situations.
After less than ten minutes, captain Stindl made a serious bad pass in the build-up, which led to the far too easy lead for Real by striker Benzema. “We need top performance. We have to keep Real busy and set tasks, ”said Rose. This did not succeed. Instead, nerves often failed, for example when Plea, who was so accurate in the end, set a free-standing counterattack next to the goal (25th).
Outstanding man: Karim Benzema (above)
What: REUTERS
Real, however, with the returned captain Sergio Ramos could not be compared with the team that was recently so badly criticized and had put itself under pressure in the Champions League. This time the record winner of the premier class performed exactly as the 34-time Spanish champion had previously announced. “For us, only the win counts,” said Real coach Zinedine Zidane, who should have feared for his job if Real missed the Champions League round of 16 for the first time.
The weakened Gladbach defense, however, came towards him and Real. After half an hour Benzema was again too free to head. The striker did not miss this.
After the change, Rose made another tactical change and brought in Valentino Lazaro and Denis Zakaria for Oscar Wendt and the disappointing Embolo. Gladbach got stronger, but remained unlucky in attack.
This did not matter after anxious final minutes and the view of Milan in the end.
FC Bayern wins
FC Bayern also had reason to celebrate. The defending champion won 2-0 (0-0) in the home game against Lok Moscow on Wednesday evening. Niklas Süle scored the 1-0 in the 63rd minute with a header following a corner from Douglas Costa. Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting scored 2-0 in the 80th minute.
The German record champions had already been confirmed as group winners and qualified for the round of 16.
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