Borussia Mönchengladbach and coach Adi Hütter suffered the next setback in the 1: 2 (1: 1) against Union Berlin. With the only two chances to score in the Köpenicker game, former Gladbach player Max Kruse (18th minute/penalty and 84th) shot the staid guests to an undeserved victory. Gladbach did not reward themselves for a convincing and committed performance this time and only managed to equalize in the meantime through Manu Koné (40th).
It is unclear whether Hütter will still be coach of Borussia after the seventh defeat from the past nine competitive games in the next game at Arminia Bielefeld on February 5. Sports director Max Eberl is ill and was unable to provide any information on the situation on Saturday. Despite the improved performance, the Gladbachers are not moving in the table and remain in midfield with 22 points.
After the bad 0: 3 in the cup at the second division team Hannover 96, Hütter described the situation at the crashed Borussia as “the most difficult situation of his 13-year coaching job”. According to the Austrian, he does not fear a leave of absence. Thanks to the lucky win, Union even jumped to a place in the Champions League with 34 points. Even after the game, Adi Hütter didn’t want to blame his team: “It was rather a game with few chances in terms of clear scoring chances. Union made two goals out of a chance. After 20 minutes we played well, my team showed a different face than against Hannover.”
Captain Stindl is absent for many weeks
Hütter had to announce the next severe blow before the game started. Borussia will have to do without captain Lars Stindl for weeks, who tore an inner ligament in his knee during final training. On the other hand, national player Hofmann was able to play again for the first time after a six-week injury break. Hütter had previously described this as an “absolute glimmer of hope”. Not entirely wrong. Despite the cup disaster, there was little sign of uncertainty in the Gladbach game.
Nevertheless, it quickly ran again against the eleven from the Lower Rhine. Subsequently and at the initiative of the video referee, referee Felix Brych watched a scene in the Gladbach penalty area again. In fact, Denis Zakaria had previously scored the ball with his hand. The penalty, which Kruse safely converted, was justified. Borussia didn’t let themselves get stuck.
Gladbach remained committed, although it was difficult against the cleverly defending and very defensive Berliners, but deservedly equalized before the break. Based on a class action by Breel Embolo, Koné completed a well-considered assist from Hofmann for his first Bundesliga goal for Gladbach. Frederik Rönnow, who had surprisingly been given preference over regular keeper Andreas Luthe, was powerless in the Berliner Tor. The Dane last played in the Bundesliga almost a year ago, back then for Schalke 04.
After the change, only the fight dominated – which, given the past few weeks, was quite a success from Gladbach’s point of view. The now very disorganized game was no longer attractive. Borussia tried to play with playful accents, Union was only concerned with sometimes clumsy actions to destroy. Goal scenes were missing for a long time, especially the guests didn’t get into attack mode at all in the second half. Union’s winning goal came out of nowhere a good five minutes before the end of the game.
Union coach Urs Fischer also sees his team as lucky: “We started the game well, but then we didn’t start consistently. Neither team created many chances in the second half. Then Gladbach can take the lead, and almost in return we score the goal. That fits a bit with the situation of the two teams that we are definitely the happier winners in the end.”
