Borussia Mönchengladbach at least got one point in the fight to stay in the league against Bayer Leverkusen in the West. After an early lead, coach Eugen Polanski’s team separated from the Champions League participants 1-1 (1-1) in the Bundesliga game on Saturday evening after an unfortunate own goal. The Gladbachers sent an example with an appealing performance that they can also perform more stable at home.
In front of 47,599 spectators in Borussia Park, birthday boy Yannik Engelhardt (10th minute) took the early lead before an own goal from Philipp Sander (44th) equalized. Leverkusen under Kasper Hjulmand missed out on important points in the fight for places in the premier class due to the draw after intensive weeks with the triple pressure of the league, DFB Cup and Champions League.
One point was “too little,” summed up Leverkusen goalkeeper Janis Blaswich on Sky TV: “It just wasn’t what we had planned. We just have to do more with it today, get more out of it.”
Borussia takes an early lead
A build-up error early on in the Werkself game made the Borussia fans, who had been suffering recently, rejoice. Leverkusen’s Gladbach-trained goalkeeper Janis Blaswich played a short pass in the penalty area to Aleix Garcia, who lost the ball to Haris Tabakovic. Blaswich was initially able to parry his low shot before Engelhardt put the ball that fell at his feet into the goal on his 25th birthday.
With the lead behind them, Gladbach withdrew and left the ball to Leverkusen. The guests, who appeared tired at times, were unable to find any solutions against the compact defense and lacked speed and penetration. Even after more than 40 minutes, Leverkusen still had no shot on goal. Overall, the game remained static for long stretches, with the home team leaving the more active impression.
A harmless long-range shot becomes an equalizer
But shortly before the break the equalizer came through an own goal that was unfortunate from Gladbach’s perspective: Sander unstoppably deflected a harmless long-range shot from Aleix Garcia into his own goal from the penalty spot. Bitter for the hosts, who had the game well under control until then.
After the break, Bayer increasingly set the tone, but tried in vain to create scoring opportunities in the not-so-high-class game. The hosts recorded one of these once again: The strong Jens Castrop tried from a tight angle in the penalty area on the right after a pass from Franck Honorat, but Blaswich saved with his foot (60th). A little later, Castrop put the ball over the goal in a tight area (78′).
Polanski – who was on the sidelines for the first time as Borussia coach in the first half of the season in Leverkusen – tried to provide fresh impetus with the substitutions of center forward Alejo Sarco, who was on loan from Leverkusen, and last-minute Swedish signing Hugo Bolin. The Werkself also brought new strength, but they didn’t bring any more momentum into the final phase.
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