Monchengladbach vs. Borussia Dortmund: Winners and Losers from Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund got the better of Borussia Monchengladbach on Matchday 18 of the 2015/16 Bundesliga season on Saturday evening, beating the Foals 3-1 away from home.
It was a highly entertaining match that offered a spectacle to all the patient fans who had to wait five weeks for the Bundesliga to return to action from the winter break.
Gladbach will ask themselves what might have been had centre-half Andreas Christensen's open header from a corner in the sixth minute gone in and not only touched the crossbar.
Both teams exchanged some half chances for the remainder of the opening period, with the visitors a bit more dominant and dangerous on the whole—Ilkay Gundogan hit the bar with a thunderous shot after 33 minutes, for example.
Marco Reus finally opened the scoring four minutes from intermission after a brilliant pass from Gundogan.
The 26-year-old Germany international then assisted Dortmund's second goal, as Reus found Henrikh Mkhitaryan all by himself in the box on a counter-attack in the 51st minute.
The Foals reacted well to going two behind and created some opportunities, one of which Brazilian forward Raffael scored after some confusion in Dortmund's defence.
The Black and Yellows had to survive some awkward moments in the following minutes but also had chances to kill the game.
The 3-1 in the 75th minute came on another counter-attack, with centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos driving the ball deep into the opposing half and laying off to Mkhitaryan, who crossed to Gundogan. The 25-year-old put the final nail in Gladbach's coffin despite—or thanks to—not hitting the ball cleanly.
Overall, Dortmund were deserved winners because they created far more than the hosts. With the win, the Black and Yellows are now eight points ahead of third place, currently held by Hertha BSC, while Gladbach remain fourth.
Here, B/R picks the winners and losers from this exciting game.
Winner: Marco Reus
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Games against former clubs are special, and even more so at the former hunting grounds. For Reus, who spent three years at Monchengladbach, returns to Borussia Park hadn't been successful so far: he had never won there and never scored.
On Saturday, Dortmund's No. 11 was crucial to his side's first win at the lower Rhine since October 2009. He opened the scoring for the 20th time in the Bundesliga since joining the Black and Yellows in 2012, per journalist Thomas Nowag on Twitter (link in German), and then assisted the second goal.
Both occasions showed Reus' impressive qualities as an attacker. His goal was simply a great finish, "powerful, crisp and nestled splendidly into the corner of the net," as Fox Soccer's Ross Dunbar put it.
For his assist, he displayed patience and vision, as he took the pace out of a counter-attack to allow team-mates to make runs in dangerous areas before finding Mkhitaryan completely unmarked inside the penalty area.
Losers: Oscar Wendt and Fabian Johnson
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Gladbach's left side that was so integral in their great run of form in the first half of the season was the weak link on Saturday. Left-back Oscar Wendt and left-winger Fabian Johnson were clearly outplayed by Reus and Lukasz Piszczek.
All three goals for the Black and Yellows came after attacks on either Gladbach's left side of defence or the left half-space.
Wendt did have a good opportunity in the first half that almost gave his side the lead, but, overall, it was a disappointing performance from two players who've proved to be capable of much more this season.
Winner: Ilkay Gundogan
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It was a masterclass of a performance from Dortmund's midfield maestro Ilkay Gundogan. The 25-year-old was in total control, bossed the midfield all game long and was—almost uncharacteristically—dangerous himself.
His long-range effort deserved more than just clanging against the bar, and his assist for Reus' opener was such a sublime pass that most neutral onlookers will have been happy to see him get on the scoresheet himself.
Dortmund's third in the 3-1 win was the first goal for Gundogan this season, and it topped off a brilliant all-round performance.
As Yellowwallpod.com's Lewis Ambrose tweeted, "Gundogan is one of the very best midfielders in the world right now. Playing an outstanding season."
Loser: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
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Calling Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a loser is harsh, but even the Gabonese himself admitted it wasn't his finest performance.
He said after the game, per Deutsche Welle's Alex Chaffer: "I'm angry about not scoring, but I'll go home and watch the game back to try and improve for next time."
The Bundesliga's leading goalscorer was surprisingly wasteful, missing a number of chances in both halves that one could consider sitters based on the 26-year-old's form of 2015.
With Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski scoring a brace in Friday's win over Hamburger SV, Aubameyang's lead in the goalscoring charts has diminished to a single goal.
Winner: Mats Hummels
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Dortmund skipper Mats Hummels earned high praise from his head coach Thomas Tuchel after the game, and rightfully so.
Tuchel said, per Deutsche Welle on Twitter: "We had a top captain on the pitch today. His mentality and charisma were superb."
Hummels' was outstanding in defence, where he led both teams with a whopping 12 interceptions—no one else had more than six, per WhoScored.com—and initiated the counter-attack that led to Dortmund's second with a brilliant tackle that showed why he likes to defend on the front foot.
If this is the Hummels Dortmund fans are going to see in 2016, they can be very excited. He exuded confidence, commanded his back line, played intelligent passes and looked solid as a rock in duels.
Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for Yellowwallpod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
