Borussia Mönchengladbach has thoroughly spoiled the return to the old place of work for its former coach Marco Rose. Borussia clearly prevailed against Rose’s new club RB Leipzig. It wasn’t just for him that there were rude insults.
BInsults and a bitter bankruptcy – Marco Rose experienced a very bitter evening on his return to Mönchengladbach. A week after his dream debut as the new coach of RB Leipzig, his team lost 0: 3 (0: 2) in an emotionally charged game at his former club Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday evening. A brace from international Jonas Hofmann (10 minutes/35 minutes) and a wonderful lob from Ramy Bensebaini (53 minutes) sealed Borussia’s third home win in a row against Leipzig. On the last day of the game, Rose started with a 3-0 win over his other former club, Borussia Dortmund.
With only eight points from seven games, the cup winner and Champions League participant is still lagging behind expectations. Coach Daniel Farke’s team from Mönchengladbach, on the other hand, has twelve points in contact with the top group in the Bundesliga and jumped to sixth place in the table.
The mood in Borussia Park in front of 50,186 spectators was particularly heated because of the personal details of Rose and Max Eberl. Rose was whistled at when entering the interior shortly before the game started and was later verbally abused in fan chants. After leaving Mönchengladbach in 2021, the Leipzig coach also lost with his former club Borussia Dortmund almost exactly a year ago (0: 1). Even then, due to the corona, he felt fan anger in a stadium that was only half full at the time.
Eberl in the focus of the Gladbach fan anger
The Gladbach fan curve also worked on ex-manager Eberl. Last week, the Borussia fan project settled accounts with Eberl in an open letter about his forthcoming move to RB. In it, the long-time Gladbach sports director, who said he had retired in January for health reasons, was accused of lying, among other things.
It was also very busy in the stadium. Eberl was verbally abused on posters. They said something like: “Months of playing poker with a construct without a soul – Max Eberl, your change of heart makes us sick” and “No one here will ever forget where we come from – and where you want to go, you characterless asshole”.
The stadium announcer even warned the fans in the curve to take down a poster, otherwise referee Patrick Ittrich would interrupt the game. It said: “A son-of-a-bitch association only hires sons of a bitch.” In fact, it was taken down shortly afterwards.
“I think that’s absolutely right. This is a football club like any other. It only has to do with pure hatred and that has no place in the football and sports world,” said Gladbach midfielder Christoph Kramer after the game on Sky. Eberl had always harshly criticized the RB construct from the Red Bull cosmos during his time in Mönchengladbach. According to RB managing director Oliver Mintzlaff, negotiations with Gladbach about Eberl joining the Saxons are nearing completion.
Kramer also jumped to the side of his ex-coach. “I really like Marco Rose, he’s outstanding as a coach and as a person. I absolutely do not share the hatred of many people. I don’t agree with that,” said the 31-year-old.
At least the Borussia pros didn’t allow themselves to be irritated by the unrest. Gladbach was clearly superior. Among the guests, who lost 2-0 at Real Madrid in the Champions League last week, left-back David Raum in particular had a bad day. Before the 0:1, the national player made a crucial mistake. Goalscorer Hofmann added a good 20 minutes to the 3-1 win over Leipzig last season. After renewed preliminary work by Marcus Thuram, who was also strong, Hofmann successfully completed a wonderful counterattack and scored his sixth Bundesliga goal against RB. Only Robert Lewandowski (7) has scored more often against Leipzig.
At the break, Rose brought in Xaver Schlager and Timo Werner, two top performers whom he had initially rested. Although Leipzig became more offensive, they continued to be boiled over by convincing Borussia. Particularly worth seeing is Bensebaini’s great lob over RB goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi for the preliminary decision.
