Borussia Mönchengladbach at the beginning of the second half of the season: “It doesn’t come much harder than that!” Mats Hummels, Thomas Tuchel and the rest of the team were sure of that after the convincing 3:1 victory on Saturday evening. Dortmund found the required voracity which had been missing a bit at FC Köln at the end of last year once again. Glancing at the table, the three points won in the Lower Rhine were extremely important.

Especially so as Leverkusen and Hertha BSC, two more direct competitors for the Champion’s League spots alongside M’gladbach, had both dropped points on the 18th match-day. “It’s fantastic”, said Hummels, who had had a “very difficult” game at Borussia-Park, “that we were able to pick up points so brilliantly.” Dortmund’s advantage over third-placed Hertha Berlin stands once again at eight points.  “We’re really happy, because we know how difficult it is to win here at Gladbach”, said Thomas Tuchel.

No team scores as often as BVB

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It was noticeable that the goal-machine that is The Black and Yellows had gathered no rust during the winter break. The three goals in Gladbach mean that Thomas Tuchel’s team have brought their account up to 50 goals for the season, the best in the league. Not even Bayern Munich have been able to match that. “The key today was our success in the tackle as well as our possession in the opposition half”, explained the BVB coach after the game. He had witnessed a very open game, as had everyone present, a game in which both teams looked to win via offensive play, and in which Dortmund not only created the better chances for themselves, but also put them away. “Not every team can play such great counterattacking football as BVB”, said Gladbach trainer Andre Schubert respectfully of his opposition.  “My compliments to you”.

Three players from this bear strong offensive line-up stood out in particular: Marco Reus, Ilkay Gündogan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Reus scored for the fifth time this season the all-important first goal, and set up Mkhitaryan for the second. The Armenian in turn assisted Gündogan to take the game to 3:1, who himself had set up Reus with a perfect pass for the first goal, and had started off the move for the second goal.

A perfect love-triangle, if you will, a Ménage-à-trois that keeps you wanting more. “Most importantly, the way we played today, how we played our football today, will give us confidence in the coming weeks”, said Gündogan. That top goal-getter Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left the field with no goals to his name, despite a number of chances, was of no consequence. “It’s annoying”, said the Gabonese with a grin, “but as long as we get the three points, it’s no big deal.”

Still room for improvement

Despite a convincing performance, attested to by the statistics (75% pass success rate, 12 shots on goal to 10, 51% possession and 56% of tackles won), both the manager and the players thought there was room for improvement. “We weren’t ruthless or precise enough when counterattacking or switching play”, suggested Tuchel. Reus and Gündogan both agreed that they had had problems for a couple of minutes after conceding a goal. “We need to work on that”, thought Reus, “as it carries on immediately next week.”  Dortmund host FC Ingolstadt in the next round.

Dennis-Julian Gottschlich