Frankfurt show no mercy against hapless Gladbach

Knowing a defeat would see them sit bottom of the standings, Borussia Mönchengladbach had a shaky start to the game. While Eintracht Frankfurt lost at home to Union Berlin, Gladbach did score their first goal of the season in a combative draw with Bayer Leverkusen last time out.

However, the visitors provided a ruthless first-half performance before their trip to Madrid to face Atletico Madrid, who scored five in the derby against Xabi Alonso’s side earlier in the day. Dino Toppmöller’s team reached five goals inside the first 45 minutes.

Robin Koch started the goal festival when he headed home Faris Chaibi’s corner-kick in the 11th minute. It was two four minutes later as Ansgar Knauff provided the final touch after Gladbach’s defense unsettled from yet another set-piece.

Gladbach seemed to recover from the early shock after that, but they conceded the third ten minutes before the break. Summer signing Jonathan Burkardt scored for the third game on the row with the assist coming from the brilliant Can Uzun.

Interim coach Eugen Polanski responded with a double change, including bringing in the only player to score for them this season, Haris Tabakovic. However, Frankfurt’s relentless display had no bounds. Chaibi joined the scoresheet before assisting Uzun’s goal in the injury-time of the first-half.

The 19-year-old maintained his impressive record of scoring in all Frankfurt games this season. Polanski, who was touted to be a genuine alternative for the role on a permanent basis after last week’s game, opted against more substitutions at the half-time.

Yet, Frankfurt showed no signs of slowing down as Koch netted the sixth two minutes after the interval. Toppmöller made his first substitution at the hour mark as Mario Götze makes his return from injury to replace Uzun. Buta, who saw multiple transfers collapsed in the summer, also gets to play the last half hour.