Kapitän Lars Stindl led Borussia Mönchengladbach to their first win of the season and gave the new coach Adi Hütter the first three-point points. The former international scored two goals for Gladbacher 3: 1 (1: 1) against last year’s promoted Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday. With that, Borussia managed to catch up with the upper half of the table with four points. The Ostwestfalen, who started the season with three draws, remain without a win after four matchdays.
In front of 25,000 spectators in Borussia-Park, Stindl (35th / 69th) and Denis Zakaria (72nd) scored the goals for the hosts. Masaya Okugawa (45th + 3) met for the guests.
After the 4-0 debacle in Leverkusen and the unnecessary 2-1 defeat at Union Berlin, Hütter was under pressure and reacted personally. In addition to Zakaria, new signing Luca Netz moved into the starting line-up for the first time for the injured Ramy Bensebaini, which Gladbach’s coach described as a “key game”.
At the back with a three-way defensive chain and on the outside positions with the two 18-year-olds Netz and Joe Scally, the hosts first had to find their rhythm against the by no means defensive Bielefeld. Loudly cheered on by the approximately 5000 fans standing close together in the north curve, where standing room was released for the first time, the Gladbach team also came up with their first opportunities against the well-organized Arminen defense, which had to do without the injured Amos Pieper.
The guests were lucky twice when Alassane Plea was offside for his goal (21st) and Jonas Hofmann narrowly missed the goal after a cross from Scally. Stindl then did better, who scored the opening goal with a 20-meter shot deflected from Jakob Laursen. But in stoppage time of the first half, Okugawa managed to equalize after a pass from Manuel Prietl and an inattention from Florian Neuhaus.
The Gladbachers tried to equalize in the game, which was characterized by many interruptions and mistakes, but on the offensive there was a lack of penetration and in the pass often the accuracy. Zakaria narrowly failed with a right-footed shot (51.), Stindl shot over the goal shortly afterwards. In addition, the Ostwestfalen always remained dangerous on counterattacks, goalkeeper Yann Sommer had to intervene more often than he probably expected. A late double strike by captain Stindl and Zakaria after the preparatory work by substitute Patrick Herrmann gave Borussia their first win of the season.
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