Bundesliga: Freiburg dismantles Gladbach – and writes league history

Adi Hütter had what was probably the worst week of his coaching career. Eight days after the 1: 4 derby debacle at 1. FC Köln, his team Borussia Mönchengladbach presented themselves as a school team in the many ways historic 0: 6 (0: 6) against SC Freiburg. Especially the ex-Borussia player Vicenzo Grifo humiliated his former employer with three direct assists. The Italian was even involved in five goals.

The bad Gladbach appearance on Sunday had nothing to do with professional football and was partly reminiscent of the 2: 8 in October 1998. At that time, Gladbach was relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time at the end of the season. But 23 years ago it was only 4-0 at break. Six goals conceded like Maximilian Eggestein (2nd minute), Kevin Schade (5th), Philipp Lienhardt (13th), Nicolas Höfler (19th), Lucas Höler (25th) and Nico Schlotterbeck (37th) in the first Borussia had never conceded a home defeat this season at home in the first half of the Bundesliga. On April 29, 1978 it was already 0: 6 at the break from Gladbach’s point of view – at that time away from Borussia Dortmund.

The embarrassing target shooting is followed by a whistle concert

In view of the desperate appearance, the Borussia could be happy that due to the pandemic, only 10,025 spectators attended the memorable gossip. The whistling concert and the reactions of the fans would have been even more violent otherwise. Many spectators weren’t there for the break anyway. Quite a few had already left Borussia-Park during the embarrassing target shooting by Freiburg, who last won in Gladbach in 1995.

Not only they should have wondered what happened in Hütter’s team since the furious 5-0 in the cup against FC Bayern at the end of October, that it only showed little resistance in the derby and this performance in a negative sense now even more topped once. Hütter, Marco Rose’s successor, who came from Eintracht Frankfurt for 7.5 million euros, should now have to answer unpleasant questions within a week in the next few days in view of ten goals conceded.

After all, the result didn’t get any worse after the break. However, coach Christian Streich’s guest team didn’t play as purposefully and effectively as before the change for a long time. The facial expressions of Streich’s colleague Hütter had darkened almost every minute in the first round and did not brighten up either.

“Because of this result we now have to show a reaction against Freiburg,” said the Gladbach coach after the already bad 1: 4 at arch-rivals 1. FC Köln and was bitterly disappointed. After just five minutes it was 0: 2, because Borussia defensively refused to play almost anything. Two goals conceded in the first 300 seconds, that was the last time 56 years ago in the Bundesliga, back then against Hamburger SV.

The fact that the long-injured Stefan Lainer and Marcus Thuram were back in the starting line-up for the first time in a good three months did not pay off at all. Above all, the Austrian Lainer acted weakly defensively – even if the entire Gladbach defensive and duel behavior was pathetic and not suitable for professionals.

After less than half an hour, Lainer was back on the bench. Hütter reacted to his players’ refusal to work with a double change. In addition to his compatriot Lainer, Alassane Plea also had to leave the field. Patrick Herrmann and Breel Embolo came into play. Meanwhile, the double change was already 0: 5.

Borussia has never been so bad. In 1979 she had already conceded five goals in one season against FC Bayern. More than 40 years ago, the fifth goal was only conceded in the 45th minute and not in the 25th time enough to embarrass yourself further. National player Schlotterbeck was also allowed to nod off to score the sixth goal in the Freiburg target shooting before the break.

Freiburg with a record game in Mönchengladbach

SC Freiburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach had already set records in the first half. According to the statistics service provider Opta, Freiburg was the first team in league history to score five goals in an away game within the first 25 minutes.

At the same time, Breisgau’s 6-0 after 45 minutes was the highest half-time lead of a team since April 29, 1978 – at that time Mönchengladbach led in the Fernduell for the German championship against 1. FC Köln even at the break with 6-0 at home against Borussia Dortmund (Final score 12: 0). Never before since joining the Bundesliga had the Freiburg team scored six goals in a game.

For Mönchengladbach the 0: 6 meant the biggest deficit in a Bundesliga game at break. Before that, it was a 0: 5 against FC Bayern Munich in 1979 (final score 1: 7). The last time the Gladbach team conceded more than six goals in a home game was at 2: 8 in October 1998 against Bayer Leverkusen. So far, there have only been six goals conceded in one half for a home team – in September 1964 Dortmund led 6-0 at FC Schalke 04.