From Bremen to Bern to Bavaria
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These achievements in Borussia-Park were the best for our reporters
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Breel Embolo celebrates a goal with his teammates in a 5-0 win in the DFB Cup against Bayern.
Photo: Dirk P ?? ffgen / Dirk Paeffgen (dirk)
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Mönchengladbach On Tuesday we asked you for your assessment: When did the foals play best in Borussia-Park? Now the Borussia reporters reveal to the RP which games they have been favoring since 2004.
It is not an easy task to select the best performances of Borussia from more than 17 years since the opening of the Borussia Park. Above all, however, it is a highly subjective assessment. Correspondingly, the opinions of Borussia reporters after the Gladbachers’ best games in their stadium, which opened in 2004, are quite different. Read our selection here.
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Jannik Sorgatz:
Approaching the question of which performance in Borussia-Park was the best using a process of elimination is a worthwhile approach. Seven of the 17 years that the stadium is now old are up for discussion: Before the Lucien Favre era, did Borussia ever reach the level that became the benchmark in the following decade?
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There were definitely a few holidays, some with sporty highlights. You end up with victories like the 3-2 against Werder Bremen shortly after the rise again in 2008, which Alexander Baumjohann crowned with his 60-meter solo through the defense of the opponent, who at that time was footballing in spheres that Gladbach did not even close dared to dream. Bremen was a welcome guest at that time, just like FC Schalke. Some successes were remarkable, but sporty to kneel down? Even the only two Bundesliga victories for a long time at Borussia-Park with a three-goal difference – 4: 1 each against 1. FC Kaiserslautern (2005) and Hamburger SV (2009) – are far from getting a place in the club museum .
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The turnaround started in April 2011 with the derby 5: 1 against 1. FC Köln. The 4: 1 against VfL Wolfsburg, with which Borussia stormed to the top of the table in August of that year, approached the flawlessness, the 5: 0 against Werder in November must be set in a Borussia Park top ten. Incidentally, Gladbach has so far played 331 competitive games in the stadium, which is no longer so new.
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Until the gala against FC Bayern on October 27, the benchmark was the 3-0 win against FC Schalke, which was just ahead of Gladbach in the table on February 11, 2012 when it came to the top match at Borussia-Park. The 2-0 goal by Mike Hanke probably only got competition from the 2-0 win against Bayern when it comes to which goal was best played. Gladbach could have set the bar even higher against Schalke, but after the third goal in the 32nd minute, the opponent was finished and Borussia shifted down a few gears a few days after winning the Cup at Hertha BSC after extra time.
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The 5-0 win against Bayern even secured a comfortable top spot. Only a free kick goal by Juan Arango like in 2012 against Schalke could have lifted the performance one step higher.
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Karsten Kellermann:
If you put Borussia’s 5: 0 against Bayern in the DFB-Pokal with the 7: 1 against Inter Milan in 1971 and the 5: 1 against Real Madrid in 1985, two games that like no other the Gladbach football of the epochs, in which they happened to define, so far this game alone can be the most beautiful, greatest and best in Borussia-Park. Any other claim would be dubious.
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Number one from the rest is the 3-0 win against Schalke 04 on February 11, 2012, which is the quintessential football that Lucien Favre played at that time. There was never more “Borussia Barcelona” than in the game: Gladbach tikitakate and defended brilliantly, Schalke, at that time a top team with great ambitions, had no chance.
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The 4-2 win against FC Sevilla on November 25, 2015, the first Gladbach victory in the Champions League, was also great. Borussia put aside the fear of the Andalusians, who had inflicted three defeats on them up to then, and played very aggressively and as adults. With his double pack, Captain Lars Stindl was the great leader.
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One of the most amazing evenings in Borussia-Park also happened in the context of the Champions League on September 28, 2016, but it didn’t have a happy ending. But a game against FC Barcelona, according to whose principles Favre made Gladbach’s promotion from almost relegated to Champions League participant possible, and in which Borussia’s home-grown Marc-Andre ter Stegen was also in goal, is great per se. And then Borussia, especially Raffael, played wonderfully in first half. The fact that it was 2-1 after his injury and the break against Barca is a flaw, but it was impressive.
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Like the 6: 1 against Young Boys Bern. Borussia totally overwhelmed their opponents in the play-off for the premier class on August 24, 2016. Adi Hütter, who now wrote history against Bayern, but was Bern coach at the time, still raves about Borussia’s intoxicating game. Rightly so. We would like to pay tribute to André Schubert, who was responsible for most of the great games at Borussia-Park when he was a coach. Like in March 2016, when there was a 4-0 win against Stuttgart, a 3-0 win against Frankfurt and a 5-0 win against Hertha. A 12-0 in 270 minutes at home is spectacular!
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13 pictures This is what Borussia’s starting XI against Fürth could look like
Photo: Dirk P ?? ffgen / Dirk Paeffgen (dirk)
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Hannah Gobrecht:
The performance of a team in sport can of course also be measured by how the starting situation was before the game and the pressure the team had to deal with. For this reason, when I look back on the numerous victories at Borussia-Park, I especially think of the 5-1 derby win against 1. FC Köln in 2011 under Lucien Favre. Borussia was doomed to win in the relegation battle and had more possession of the ball from the start with debutant Marc-André ter Stegen in goal, but without creating clear scoring chances. After half an hour and the 1-0 win by Juan Arango, it started, two more goals followed up to half-time. The team showed that the mentality was right when they put away the 3: 1 connection goal in the 50th minute and ultimately won 5: 1 – especially mentally an amazing performance by the Gladbach team.
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On April 11, 2015, Borussia-Park showed how perfect counter-football can look against BVB. With a lightning goal, Oscar Wendt made it 1-0 after 29 seconds. Speed, stability, efficiency – a lot went together at Borussia, after 67 minutes the game was decided 3-0 by Havard Nordtveit for Lucien Favre’s team. Jürgen Klopp and Dortmund didn’t get more than the connection goal.
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What Borussia performance also impressed me was the 3-1 win against FC Bayern in December 2015. And that’s because Borussia withstood the constant pressure from Munich in the first half so that it went goalless in the half, although Bavaria should have led long ago. The 1-0 win in the 54th minute by Oscar Wendt was followed by a double strike by Lars Stindl (66th) and Fabian Johnson (68th) – a mature performance against the record champions, who only managed to score a goal from Franck Ribery. For Gladbach’s coach André Schubert it was the twelfth competitive game without a defeat.
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The win against FC Augsburg in October 2019 should not be missing from this list. Not because the Borussia team topped the table with this result under coach Marco Rose, but because they also showed really good attacking football, one of which after 13 minutes 3-0 lead resulted. The Augsburgers were totally overwhelmed with the high pressing of the Gladbachers – and they took advantage of it only a few days after the 1-1 draw in the Europa League against Istanbul Basaksehir.
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41 pictures Borussia’s records, series and impressive numbers since 2011
Photo: dpa / Jan-Philipp Strobel
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Thomas Grulke:
If great performances are not equated with a spectacle – and there were sometimes in the first years of the Borussia Park – but rather with a higher quality football, then for me there have only been home games mentioned in this category since the Lucien Favre era may be. Just like the 1-0 win against Borussia Dortmund early on in Favre’s tenure, a milestone in the direction of the class remaining miracle in 2011. It was the game of the bottom of the table against the designated champions, the pressure situation for Gladbach was enormous. And yet Favre’s team made it look like a matter of course in the 90 minutes that Borussia vom Niederrhein won this game.
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Only a good six months later, Borussia demonstrated their newly won playing skills under Favre and finished Werder Bremen 5-0 – at a time when Werder was not yet a relegation candidate, but a premier class contender. Marco Reus whirled through Bremen’s defensive rows, and Juan Arango conjured the ball with his outside instep in the corner. “Borussia Barcelona” in its early stages.
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Borussia has often seen in recent years that great performances do not necessarily have to end in a sense of achievement, especially in the European Cup, preferably against Spanish teams – memories of Barca (1: 2) and Real (2: 2) are awakened. But this has never been more evident to me than in the 2: 3 in the Europa League intermediate round in 2015 against Sevilla FC. Borussia played so powerfully and also so creatively, it was an achievement that absolutely deserved a happy ending. In the end, the ice-cold Spaniards cheered, but their trainer Unai Emery said afterwards: “We have never suffered like this.”
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In the past ten years, Bayern Munich had to suffer astonishingly often at Borussia-Park. Some games could be mentioned at this point, I decide for the 3-1 in December 2015 under coach André Schubert. Just look again at the goals for 1-0 and 3-0 by Oscar Wendt and Fabian Johnson. Bayern were more beautifully dismantled just a few weeks ago in the DFB Cup: The 5-0 is probably Borussia’s greatest performance in the stadium, which is no longer so new, and has now seen a number of big games.
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