group stage win of the campaign, thumping Apollon 5-0 on
Thursday at Borussia Park.
After starting the game strongly, the hosts were gifted the
perfect opportunity to open the scoring only 11 minutes into
the first half after a terrible defensive mistake from Hugo Lopez,
and Ibrahima Traore fired the ball into the back of the net from
close range to give his side a well deserved lead.
Borussia Monchengladbach continued to boss possession for
the rest of the first half but were denied the opportunity to go
further ahead by goalkeeper Bruno Vale, who pulled off a
plethora of fine saves to keep the scoreline at 1-0.
However, the German side came out even stronger in the
second period, with Branimir Hrgota turning in Traore's saved
effort after 56 minutes before the Guinean midfielder turned
scorer again with a thumping shot from the edge of the box 10
minutes later.
They weren't done just yet, however, and substitute Patrick
Herrmann scored a fourth with a great first-time shot with just
seven minutes left to play before Thorgan Hazard's cross-cum-
shot ended up deflecting off Apollon defender Angelis
Charalambous, beating Vale to wrap up an emphatic win.
Despite being a point behind heading into tonight's clash, the
hosts began the game as the favourites to come away with the
victory, and they started as they meant to go on, with an
impressive forward line causing the Apollon defence plenty of
problems in the opening stages.
They were rewarded for their efforts on the 11-minute mark
after a terrible pass by Lopez went straight to Hrgota, who
squared the ball to Traore to easily slot into the back of the net.
Apollon continued to struggle from then on and it was only due
to fantastic goalkeeper from Vale that they didn't go into the
half-time break three or four goals down, as the Portuguese
shot-stopper pulled off great saves to deny both Max Kruse and
Hazard in the closing stages of the first period.
However, Gladbach picked up where they left off after the break
and Traore was on hand to cause the Cypriot side further miser
11 minutes in when his rocket of a shot was parried into the
path of Hrgota, who easily slotted the ball into the back of an
empty net.
Traore, who was on fire from start to finish, then scored his
second of the game 10 minutes later with a fantastic low shot
from the edge of the penalty area that left Vale with no chance,
before the hosts seemed to sit back in an attempt to hold on to
their three-goal lead.
However, even when they were defending they were causing the
visitors plenty of problems all over the pitch, and it wasn't long
before it was 4-0, with Herrmann turning in a great Hazard
cross with a wonderful first-time shot from the edge of the six-
yard box with seven minutes left to play.
Things were only going to get worse for Apollon, who looked
completely dejected and bereft of belief by now, and a
Charalambous own-goal in the 91st minute wrapped up a
terrible night for the Cypriot side, who have now conceded nine
goals in their last two Europa League games.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
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