Borussia Mönchengladbach wins 2-0 at SpVgg Greuther Fürth. In the fight against relegation, the foals now have a solid cushion.
With a satisfied smile, Adi Hütter stretched his right thumb up as he disappeared into the dressing room. Meanwhile, his players let themselves be celebrated by their powerful-voiced supporters – for good reason. After the 2-0 (2-0) at SpVgg Greuther Fürth, Borussia Mönchengladbach probably has nothing to do with relegation after a largely used season. “I’m very, very happy with the three points,” said coach Hütter.
Yes, “we’re happy to take the three points with us,” said a relaxed Matthias Ginter on Sky after the game. Gladbach convinced in a good first half, the goals of Marcus Thuram (19th) and Alessane Plea, who converted a late penalty kick (24th / according to video evidence), inevitably fell. Victory was hardly threatened after that, even if, as Ginter said, the second half “splashed a bit back and forth”.
After ten points from the past four games, the foals have earned a solid cushion on the relegation place. For bottom table Fürth, rank 16 is still so far away that relegation is practically unavoidable – manager Rachid Azzouzi therefore had to deal with questions about the future of coach Stefan Leitl, who is said to be in demand at Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC.
“We are in an open, honest exchange,” said Azzouzi, Leitl initially had a contract until 2023 and knew “what he has in us”. But it was also clear to him that his coach “is ambitious, you won’t be able to tie anyone down”. There is no question, Azzouzi added, “that we would like to continue with him”.
Greuther Fürth dissatisfied with the penalty kick
In addition, Azzouzi was irritated by the process that led to the penalty. Timothy Tillmann had fouled Stefan Lainer (20′), but referee Tobias Stieler initially allowed the ball to continue.
It was only three minutes later that the referee ran to the sidelines to watch the scene again – and decided on a penalty kick.
The referee was initially “sure” “that he didn’t have to go out,” complained Azzouzi, who didn’t want to see a clear wrong decision. Curious: Stieler was the video referee at FC Augsburg’s game against Mainz 05 (2-1) on Wednesday – and as a VAR he had not pointed out to his colleague Matthias Jöllenbeck on site that he had obviously wrongly whistled a penalty kick.
The cloverleaf defended itself after the 0:2, but did not get beyond good approaches. Sebastian Griesbeck (30′), whose header flew just wide of the goal, had a good chance of a quick goal, but it wasn’t much more dangerous.
Despite all efforts and good approaches in the second half, there was a lack of assertiveness in and in the penalty area as well as precision and callousness in the end.
Greuther Furth – Borussia Mönchengladbach: The line-ups
