Monchengladbach vs. Barcelona: Score, Reaction to 2016 Champions League Match

Barcelona earned its second win of the 2016-17 Champions League group stage, beating Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 on Wednesday night at Borussia-Park.

Thorgan Hazard had the home side ahead early, but Arda Turan canceled out his opener. Gerard Pique delivered the winner to secure three points for Barcelona.

While Barcelona is the reigning La Liga champion, Fox Soccer noted recent history pointed to Gladbach getting a positive result Wednesday:

The German side showed no fear in the first half, using its counterattack to great effect through the first 45 minutes. The opening goal illustrated how quickly Gladbach can turn defense into attack.

In the 34th minute, Raffael took the ball away from Sergio Busquets just inside his own half with help from teammate Mahmoud Dahoud. Over the span of nine seconds, Raffael passed ahead to Dahoud, who found Hazard for the goal.

Fox Soccer shared a replay of the devastating counter:

Ross Dunbar of DW Sports thought the sequence highlighted some of Gladbach's biggest strengths:

With the goal, Hazard maintained his impressive run of form, according to WhoScored.com:

DW Sports' Jonathan Harding praised the work of Dahoud, who was one of Gladbach's best players in the first half:

Gladbach's advantage was nearly short-lived. In the 39th minute, Luis Suarez got into an attacking position, but goalkeeper Yann Sommer saved his volley and eliminated the danger to keep the home side in the lead.

Barcelona had 61 percent of the possession in the first half but struggled to make a dent in the Gladbach defense, which could be explained in part by Lionel Messi's absence (groin). Although Barca isn't short on dynamic playmakers, even the Spanish club is worse off without one of the best players in the world.

The pendulum slowly began shifting toward the Catalan giants in the second half, though. Despite being down 1-0, they didn't start panicking and instead continued to patiently probe the Gladbach defense.

A goal by Turan in the 65th minute helped settle the nerves. The Turkish midfielder had only entered the game in the 59th minute before providing the equalizer.

While Neymar delivered a perfect pass over the top of the Gladbach back line, Turan still had some work to do from close range. He deftly fired his shot over Sommer and under the crossbar as the Swiss was covering the near post.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Turan's last Champions League goal had come in October 2014.

Marca's Jason Pettigrove was happy the 29-year-old ended the drought:

Sommer deserved little blame for Turan's opener, but he offered a huge helping hand as Pique put Barcelona ahead.

Sommer spilled a straightforward save off a Suarez volley. Pique was quick to react to the mistake and poked the ball into the back of the net in the 74th minute to make it a 2-1 game.

Yahoo Sport UK's Andrew Gaffney thought the goal underscored Pique's importance to Barcelona:

Barca moved to the top of Group C on Wednesday following Manchester City's 3-3 draw with Celtic. The two clubs will meet at the Camp Nou on Oct. 19 in one of the most highly anticipated fixtures of the group stage.

If Barca walks away with its third straight win, the club will firmly be in the driver's seat in the section.

Wednesday's loss wasn't a disaster for the German side despite the fact that it's at the bottom of the group after back-to-back defeats. Gladbach will meet Celtic in its next match, which is a great opportunity to collect three points.

With return fixtures with Barcelona and City later in the group stage, Gladbach can ill afford to put in a poor performance against Celtic if it hopes to reach the knockout stage.

Post-Match Reaction

"We were much better in the second half, and in the end, we deserved the win," Pique said, according to The Independent's Pete Jenson.

Barcelona manager Luis Enrique concurred that Barca earned all three points, per FourFourTwo:

"

We dominated the first half and created several chances.

We didn't carve out as many opportunities after half-time, but overall it was a deserved win.

Monchengladbach did not play the way they usually play, but they opted to sit deep. We got chances, but they hit us on the break, something which they are very good at.

We responded after the interval and our strategy gave us the win.

"

"We played well for the majority of the 90 minutes," Gladbach defender Julian Korb said, per Matthew Howarth of the official UEFA website. "But against a team like Barcelona, that's not enough."