Borussia Mönchengladbach crushed Sevilla in their Champions League Group D match with two goals from Lars Stindl for a first victory in the competition and one which ended the Spanish club’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage.
Stindl tapped in after 29 minutes and scored again late on, with second-half goals from Fabian Johnson and Raffael, to lift Gladbach to five points in the group and on track for a third-place finish that leads to the Europa League, with their last group match at Manchester City next month.
Sevilla, who scored through Vitolo in the 82nd minute and with Ever Banega adding a stoppage-time penalty, have lost four group games since beating the German side in their opener, and are in bottom place on three and face Juventus next.
Borussia, who had lost three times this year to Sevilla, including twice in the Europa League, took revenge, recording a first home win over a Spanish club in 30 years to continue their excellent run under André Schubert. “It was an important game. We wanted to show that we could win in the Champions League,” Stindl said. The club had not played top-flight European football since reaching the semi-final of 1977-78 European Cup.
Gladbach, who have won seven of their eight matches in the league, got off to a better start, with the Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico forced to make three saves in the opening minutes.
Sevilla, looking to halt a run of three straight defeats, responded with a chance for Yevhen Konoplyanka, who failed to beat the goalkeeper Yann Sommer from three metres out.
Rico was kept busy, however, twice more stopping shots from Stindl, but the attacking midfielder was not to be denied, slipping into the box to tap in a Granit Xhaka shot on goal.
The Swiss international almost scored himself early in the second half, unleashing a shot from 20 yards, with Rico spectacularly palming the ball wide.
Sevilla upped the tempo and came close twice through the Frenchman Kevin Gameiro before Johnson delivered the knockout punch in the 68th with a well-placed curled effort. “We produced a strong performance. Everyone played to their limit,” the USA international said.
Raffael added a third and Vitolo cut the deficit in the 82nd before Stindl responded with his second goal of the evening a minute later in an entertaining finale that included a penalty for Sevilla in stoppage time and converted by Banega.
“Third place is now in our own hands. But the task will be very demanding,” said Schubert, who has steered the club from the bottom of the Bundesliga to fifth place with only two points dropped in his eight games.
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