Borussia Mönchengladbach: a German team

This is quality. The writing and the formatting are excellent mate. Will be following.
 
Jedd95 said:
An unbelievable first season at the club. Be interesting where you can take them from here with Champions League football next season!
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Cheers mate! Fair to say I definitely wasn't expecting it hahaha but I hope we can be competitive in the CL next season now and do as well in the Bundesliga too...
 
Yeti01 said:
This is quality. The writing and the formatting are excellent mate. Will be following.
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Thanks very much for the support :) I switched up from my previous formatting back to this "newspaper headlines" sort of format since I enjoyed doing that so much in my Totti story a few years back and honestly really prefer writing like this than doing monthly reviews! Glad you'll be following :)
 
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Season club awards

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Hello everyone and thank you so much for joining us this evening for the Borussia Mönchengladbach season awards! It's been an incredible season for everyone at the club and we hope the fans be happy with who they chose as their player of the season, young player of the season and signing of the season! First, I'd like to welcome to the stage Mr. Rolf Königs, the President of the club to give a bit of an overview as to how we did this season!

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Thank you everyone for coming once again, I'm so happy to be here and celebrate such a historic season with the players and the staff. To summarise, we did the double in Germany! Without playing in Europe this season, we were able to fully focus on the domestic competitions we were in and ended up winning them both, so I'd say this was a pretty **** successful season. I'd like to congratulate and honour the players, all 22 of them, and our new manager Klaus Weiß, who all did so much better than anyone ever expected. Here's to a successful season next year and some Champions League football!
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Some applause for Mr. Königs please! We'll now move on to some more general statistics from the season and let's just say that Alassane and Thorgan both had seasons to remember! Alassane was our club's top goalscorer in his first season here with 20 goals in all competitions, 15 of which came in the Bundesliga making him the 5th top goalscorer in the league! Thorgan also scored 15 Bundesliga goals on top of making 16 assists in all competitions, taking his overall tally for the season to 19 goals and 16 assists in 40 games! Christoph was our best passer throughout the season but unfortunately also got the most yellow cards. Finally, Tony, Lars, Florian and Nélson won't be too happy to hear that they were the only players in the team to get red cards! Up next we have the actual Bundesliga awards and we'll finish with the fan's awards!

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Please welcome to the stage our manager, Klaus Weiß!

First off I just want to say thank you to the board. They put trust in me, have given me a generous budget for next season and are clearly very confident of my abilities and for that I cant thank you enough. It's pushed me to be the best I can be at this club and here we are at the end of one season having won every trophy we could've. It's truly an honour. Secondly I want to thank the players. You can see some of them have won a few awards this season and feature in the Team of the Season and it's a huge honour to have managed these boys throughout the year. Players like Josha Vagnoman and Florian Neuhaus surprised me in the best way possible by being key first team players and other like Thorgan Hazard and Viktor Fischer and so many others just had outstanding seasons which helped us to do as well as we did. Finally I want to thank the fans who aren't here today but packed the stadium week in week out for us and supported us throughout the year so thank you again and see you next year!
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Thanks Klaus for this great speech, a round of applause everybody please! And now finally, the moment I'm sure many of the players would have been waiting for, the fan's choices awards! To present them, please welcome to the stage our club captain Lars Stindl!

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Alright well hello everyone! Unfortunately I know already I don't feature in any of these awards but I was more than happy to represent the team and come up here to give these out considering some of the amazing performances we had this season. First off for the Fan's Team of the Season we have: Sommer (GK), Vagnoman (RB), Elvedi (CB), Ginter (CB), Wendt (LB), Cuisance, Neuhaus and Kramer (CMs), Hazard (RW), Fischer (LW) and Pléa (ST)! Congratulations to all of you on an incredible season. For the Fan's Player of the Season, 36% of the votes have gone to our winner ... Thorgan Hazard! Neuhaus came in 2nd with 30% and Vagnoman in 3rd with 22%. For the Fan's Goal of the Season the award goes to Kramer for his goal against Werder Bremen back in November! It really was an incredible strike from him that I couldn't even believe happened when I saw it from afar... The Fans' Signing of the Season goes to ... Viktor Fischer! Viktor, you've really become a huge part of this team since your arrival in January and clearly the fans see it that way too so let's hope you'll continue to get better and take this team to the next level next season in the Champions League! And finally, the Fans' Young Player of the Season goes to Florian Neuhaus! To think you were out on loan in the 2. Bundesliga last season and that you've crushed it in the Bundesliga this year really shows your quality and I hope we'll see it in the Champions League next season!
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So that's the club awards for the 2018/19 season everyone! Thank you so much for joining us this evening and we hope to see you all this happy and excited next season to defend our Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal titles as well as compete in the Champions League!
 
I've been following since the start, but haven't commented before now, so apologies!

Congratulations on winning the Bundesliga title and the DFB Pokal. That is some achievement!

As a new contributor to these forums, I am envious of the way you write and format your updates. They are visually pleasing and also have the perfect written structure, that makes each update a great read.

Looking forward to next season!
 
TaylorBAFC said:
I've been following since the start, but haven't commented before now, so apologies!

Congratulations on winning the Bundesliga title and the DFB Pokal. That is some achievement!

As a new contributor to these forums, I am envious of the way you write and format your updates. They are visually pleasing and also have the perfect written structure, that makes each update a great read.

Looking forward to next season!
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Cheers for the really nice comment mate, I'm glad you're enjoying the format! I'll probably keep it that way for the long-term future of the story since most people seem to be enjoying it so much :) and have fun and good luck with your Peterborough story!
 
Yeah, I just started a Southampton save so I hope it's anywhere near half as good as this one!
 
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New blood in Borussia

View attachment 17889Gary Neville, new assistant manager at Gladbach

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Breaking news out of Gladbach this morning with Dirk Bremser relieved of his duties as assistant manager to Klaus Weiß and the experienced former international footballer Gary Neville taking his place. This came as a shock to many due to Neville's disappointing foreign experience with Valencia but Weiß justified his choice by declaring that Neville was hugely experienced in high-pressure environments from his playing days at Manchester United and his knowledge of the Champions League as a competition and way of playing was the reason he decided to go for him. Definitely an interesting choice from the German manager who'll be defending his Bundesliga champion title this upcoming season.

In other news, there were two arrivals and one departure at the club, both high calibre players who should be improving the squad's quality greatly.

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The first signing is perhaps a surprising one, as Weiß decided to go for André Onana from Ajax and sign him for just £11.25 million. As one of the more promising goalkeepers in Europe, the Cameroonian goalkeeper declared he was delighted to sign with the German champions and was excited to compete in the Champions League with them. This arrival of course ignited the departure of the former backup goalkeeper for die Fohlen, Tobias Sippel.

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Sippel leaves the club and joins Frankfurt for £750,000 in the hopes of becoming their 1st keeper as Kevin Trapp has now gone back to PSG from his loan with the German side. It's a decent deal for Gladbach who will now be able to rely upon two fantastic goalkeepers in Sommer and Onana. Who will be the starting keeper throughout the season remains to be seen but we have a feeling it might just be the young Cameroonian.

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Another surprising arrival is Divock Origi, who comes in from Liverpool on a free transfer as his contract was expiring in June 2019. The Belgian striker comes in after a season out on loan at Wolverhampton where he scored 12 goals in 31 appearances, a good return for a side which finished in 13th in the Premier League last season. It's believed that Origi will become the starting striker at the club as rumours surround Pléa and a move away from the club and, coincidently, to the Premier League.

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With 15 goals in 28 Bundesliga appearances in his first season at the club, the French striker definitely impressed and the likes of Newcastle and Wolverhampton have looked at Gladbach's top goalscorer last season to help them out in the Premier League. It will be interesting to see if Gladbach would rather keep a fan favourite at the club or take the reported £40 million that he would be sold for and invest elsewhere in the side. Here's what Weiß had to say about his new signings in the press conference introducing them:

We're very happy with the signings we've made so far. Divock and André are two young players who I believe could be incredible players in the future if they're given the playing time at a high level and it was just a perfect fit, especially for that kind of money. Yann was good for us last season but didn't perform to the best of his ability in my opinion and as he reaches 30s, I have to think about the future of the club and get a younger goalkeeper who can come in and replace him when needed. As for Divock, it's sort of the same thing. Alassane was very good for us last season but did suffer a few injuries and in those matches without him, we really suffered up front and weren't able to score as many goals so having a striker like Origi as backup will be perfect for the side.
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With Weiß's mention of the club's future, it is also interesting to mention that Manchester United reportedly came in for him earlier in the summer following Ole Gunnar Solskjær's departure from the club, an interest which Weiß rejected immediately and declared to the Manchester United board that whilst he was flattered by the offer, he just couldn't leave the club that made him.

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In more good news for Gladbach fans, they'll be delighted to see their wonderkid Mickaël Cuisance renewing his contract at the club and keeping him there until 2024. It's a big wage hike for the Frenchman but after a very good season last year, it's fair to say it's more than deserved.

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In terms of the German champions' preparation, they have a packed schedule ahead for July and the start of August as well with 5 friendlies and two official matches to deal with. Facing the likes of Zenit, Leipzig and Shakhtar should give Weiß's side an opportunity to play against Champions League-level opposition whilst games against Twente, Zaragoza, Aachen and Trier will hopefully allow the side to gel and get some decent results to get their confidence levels going before their Bundesliga opener against Augsburg. For the last news of this update, we do have sources telling us that Gladbach have 2 other signings lined up but not confirmed yet, one of which is a very high calibre player and perhaps even higher than Origi and Onana, which should excite Gladbach fans for sure.
 
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Great start for new-look Gladbach

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It's been a positive start for the new-look Gladbach side as they cruised to 3 friendly wins, each without conceding a goal. Onana and Origi were both featured in at least one of the games so the fans have already gotten to see some of their new players feature in the side and have made good impressions so far. As for the other signings, we were told that Gladbach had struck a deal with former PSG player Adrien Rabiot but the latter ditched the German side at the last minute to join Ligue 1 rivals Monaco, who offered him a better wage by just about £20,000 a week. It was a big blow for them especially as a key midfielder at the club decided to leave to also join the French league but die Fohlen fans will be happy to hear about some of the signings made to replace the failed transfer and the heartbreaking departure.

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Three heartbreaking departures to say the least for Borussia Mönchengladbach who lose experienced centre-back Jantschke, versatile Hofmann and fan-favourite Neuhaus, each leaving for £2.6, £8 and £40 million respectively. The hardest departure to swallow for the club's fans will undoubtedly be Florian Neuhaus who despite leaving his side a hefty sum of money to work with was one of the key players in the side last season and will be sorely missed as one of the best players at the club at the start of this new season. The money was well spent however, with 3 new arrivals to make up for the departures.

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As a direct replacement for Neuhaus and perhaps the most controversial move made in the Bundesliga this transfer window, we saw Spanish wonderkid Sergio Gómez come in for just over £10 million from Borussia rivals Dortmund who were forced to let the youngster go following complaints and rows between the player and the manager. Despite the rivalry between the two sides, Gladbach fans were more than happy to welcome such a promising young player and especially for such a small price. We're yet to see him feature in Weiß's side but if he pushed for the transfer so much, he must see something great in this young player.

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A more interesting arrival would certainly be the one of Luiz Felipe, who comes in for £20 million from Lazio to replace the departing Jantschke. Standing at 187cm and weighing just underneath 80kgs, the Brazilian centre-back has a similar "no-nonsense" profile that Jantschke possessed which should really complement the likes of Ginter and Elvedi, two defenders who would definitely be considered more technically gifted. At 22 years old, he's already had plenty of first-team experience in Italy and is expected to start alongside either Ginter or Elvedi but considering the latter two's seasons last year, Weiß might decide to trust his title-winning defensive partnership first.

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Finally, another perhaps surprising signing would be that of Davide Calabria from AC Milan. The Italian side let their very promising right-back leave the club for just £6 million, an absolute bargain for Gladbach according to some. The young right-back comes in to replace Nélson Semedo, who had such a great 6 months in Germany but could not agree contract details with the club to sign him permanently and therefore went back to Barcelona. It's now rumoured the Portuguese right-back is being scouted actively by both Manchester United and PSG, meaning Gladbach had to look elsewhere to find their new right back and they've found it in Calabria. With Vagnoman's versatility and ability to play as a left-back like he did for the second half of the season last year, he and Calabria should be a fantastic full-back duo for Gladbach as they'll be hoping to defend their Bundesliga title.

The German manager Klaus Weiß was clearly ecstatic about his new signings despite some disappointing departures, as he told us earlier in the club's pre-season tour:

(Weiß on club departures): It was tough losing a player like Neuhaus who I tried my hardest to convince to stay here but after one incredible season in the top-flight, when a team like PSG comes knocking on your door, it's a bit hard to say no. As for Hofmann and Jantschke, both of them are great players and we'll miss them hugely but unfortunately I just didn't believe they were the best players to keep at the club going forward.

(When asked about his new signings): I'm extremely excited about our new players. We managed to do some great business this window and strengthened in every position on the pitch (goalkeeper, centre-back, full-back, centre-midfielder and striker) so we'll have some quality backup and first team players now who will hopefully help us clinch another Bundesliga title and do well in the Champions League. All 3 of them are also very young and extremely talented so I think with some time at this club, performing to such a high standard in the Bundesliga, we could help them develop into absolute world-beaters and hopefully that'll make them grateful enough to stay at the club for many many years!
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Losing Neuhaus is a big blow but the new signings look quality.
 
WeArePalace said:
Losing Neuhaus is a big blow but the new signings look quality.
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Definitely was a blow, especially as he just couldn't be convinced to stay at the club unfortunately... Sergio Gomez look like he could really become a key part of the side though so I'm excited to see him play for the club!
 
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Elvedi rescues point against Leverkusen

View attachment 17747Elvedi (left) defending against Leverkusen's Leon Bailey (right)

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It was a match to remember at the BayArena tonight in the Bundesliga, as German champions Gladbach had to rescue a late draw against the home side Leverkusen through defender Nico Elvedi, who came on in the 73rd minute to replace Vagnoman. It had been a great start for the away side as Origi scored his 2nd goal in 2 Bundesliga appearances this season in the 12th minute but Bailey made it 1-1 soon after. Aránguiz scored what looked like the winner for the home side but a 93rd minute header from Elvedi gave die Fohlen a much needed point. Weiß's side struggled a little bit against Augsburg in their opening game and conceded another 2 goals tonight and almost lost the match as well, something which doesn't seem to bother Weiß too much yet:

It's not been the best start for us especially when you consider how well we started last season but I expected it. With 5 new players coming in the team, we've had friendlies to help the team gel but those sort of games don't compare to high pressure matches like the one we just played against Leverkusen. We'll need some time to make sure the players all know each other well enough to pass it at the right time, know when to shoot, know when to trust a fellow player, etc. I'm happy to see Onana and Origi do well so far, it's encouraging that they've gotten used to the club so quickly and hopefully they can keep that going and motivate Davide, Sergio and Luiz to do the same.
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The Bundesliga table looks incredibly interesting after just 2 games, with the likes of Leipzig and Dortmund down in the second half of the table whilst newly-promoted Hamburg and Köln are both in the top 3. The holders Gladbach sit in 5th just behind Bayern but could easily slip down as far as 13th in the table if they get a bad result in their next match. On top of that, they'll now have to worry about the Champions League:

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It's a good group for Gladbach to ease back into the Champions League to say the least. Their toughest opponents will undoubtedly be Napoli, who finished 2nd in the Serie A last season, as one of the stronger teams in Europe in recent years, whilst games against Kyiv and Galatasaray will be tough trips for the German side as well. Gladbach's first Champions League game of the season will come against Napoli at home just after the international break.

It's a tough group for sure. Some might say we got off easy considering some of the teams we could've drawn but I would argue we have one of the toughest groups in the competition. Napoli are a huge side who are very well supported by their fans so a trip away to their stadium will be very tough and the same can be said for Dynamo Kyiv and Galatasaray, whose stadiums are known for their incredible atmosphere. I would always put my money on us at home against any team personally as I believe our fans are so supportive so it'll be exciting to face Napoli at home in our first game and I hope we can get off to a good start in the competition with a decent result against the team I believe will be our main competitors to make it to the next round.
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Bore draw for Gladbach Champions League return

View attachment 17742The Borussia-Park was tense for their side's first Champions League match in almost 3 years

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A 0-0 draw was all the hosts could manage as the German champions made their return to the Champions League for the first time in almost 3 years. Napoli were put under pressure from the get-go and never managed to really control the game as Gladbach kept the ball and had chance after chance throughout the 90 minutes. Unfortunately, Meret had a fantastic game and the Napoli defence held their ground to earn a point away from home, a result which they'll definitely take back to the San Paolo for the game between these two sides later in the competition.

It was a tense game and I think you could feel that in the atmosphere of the stadium today. The fans were a bit nervous and so were we and I think it showed a bit. We weren't realistic enough with our chances and it cost us what could have been 3 easy points considering how dominant we were throughout the match. I'm not too disappointed as this is clearly a new experience for a lot of players at the club and hopefully our next few matches in the competition will help us to get used to the atmosphere and style of play necessary for these types of games so we can get a few points and put ourselves in the best place possible to make it through to the next round.
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There's now no rest for the Bundesliga holders as they travel to Wolfsburg over the weekend before a huge game against their rivals Dortmund just 3 days later and an away game against Bayern 4 days after that. Their first game in October and 2nd in the Champions League will also be a tough away trip all the way to Turkey to face Galatasaray, who sit 1st in the group after beating Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 in their opening game away from home.
 
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Definitely be interesting to see how you get on this season with European football to contend with as well and if the new players can step up to the plate
 
Can't get over how great this story is, the format, the pictures, wow. Great job
 
leckuno said:
Definitely be interesting to see how you get on this season with European football to contend with as well and if the new players can step up to the plate
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I'm looking forward to the challenge to be honest, I think this team can definitely get far in the Champions League but at the same time we've only faced German teams so far and most of them underperformed last season so it could be a tough campaign!

Cahoon said:
Can't get over how great this story is, the format, the pictures, wow. Great job
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Thanks for the support mate, really appreciate your comment :)
 
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First Borussen Derby and Champions League victories for Weiß

View attachment 17698Jadon Sancho didn't even feature in his side's defeat to Borussia rivals

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It'll be a night to remember for Borussia Mönchengladbach fans as their side recorded their first victory against Dortmund since April 2015 and their 7th win in the rivalry's history (compared to Dortmund's 15). With a world class performance from new signing Origi and yet another goal from defender Elvedi, die Fohlen were able to take all 3 points in a tense match which saw Alcácer actually draw it up just before half-time but it wasn't enough for them. The big focal point of the game was certainly Sergio Gómez's appearance against his old side and it seemed like the Gladbach fans were loving it as they cheered every pass he made towards the end of the game when the match was put to bed by Elvedi's 86th minute goal.

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Weiß's side weren't as lucky as they travelled to Munich to face the German giants Bayern and suffered an unfortunate defeat against their title rivals. Sergio Gómez put his side ahead in what looked like it would be another great game for die Fohlen but Goretzka's brace in the second half (which included a late 83rd minute goal) gave his side all 3 points and hands Gladbach their first league defeat of the season. It definitely is a blow for Weiß's side but with their eyes set on a Galatasaray away fixture in mid-week, it almost made sense that they wouldn't have tried as hard in this fixture.

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The last game in what has got to be Weiß's toughest set of matches as a manager came against Galatasaray away in Istanbul, as Thorgan Hazard's late 84th minute strike gifted his side their first 3 points in the Champions League campaign, allowing them to keep up with the now-group leaders Napoli (who won 3-0 at home against Kyiv). With a double-fixture against Dynamo Kyiv now, the first one taking place away from home, Gladbach will be hoping they can get two good results to really put themselves in a strong position for their last two group games against Galatasaray at home and Napoli away. Weiß seemed optimistic about the club's rest of the season in an interview with us, despite Bayern ending a good streak of results:

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[FONT=&quot]It was tough losing to Bayern for sure but I don't think the players were affected by it too much. We knew the game away to Bayern would be a tough one just like it was last season but at the end of the day, this one result doesn't make our season, the other 33 games do and we've gotten off to a good start so I'm happy with the performance despite the result and I think that showed when we beat Galatasaray away. Going to Istanbul for a Champions League match is not easy at all and we controlled the game and eventually scored a late winner so that was great for us. As for the Dortmund game, I was really happy to finally win against our rivals after our 2 draws in the league last season and it was great to do it in front of the fans too who got a great show so I'm very happy and I hope the team and our new signings can keep playing as well as they have and bring us more points to hopefully retain our Bundesliga title.[/FONT]​
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That unfortunate hiccup for Gladbach against Bayern sees them fall down to 3rd from 1st place as Hamburg and Schalke will continue their stellar season at the top of the Bundesliga. Bayern, Dortmund and Leipzig still nowhere to be seen around the European spots as they sit in 9th, 12th and 16th respectively in what has got to be the most underwhelming seasons they've had in a while so far. As for the Champions League, Gladbach have now moved up to 2nd and overtaken the team they beat in their last matchday Galatasaray and will now hope for 2 good results against Dynamo Kyiv for them and two good results for Napoli against Galatasaray to effectively qualify them for the next round.
 
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Gladbach smash Leipzig in impressive title defence

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Gladbach fans will be absolutely delighted following their side's world-class performance against last season's runners-up Leipzig, who just had no clue how to deal with die Fohlen's attacks. This 5-0 win is Gladbach's second largest league win of the season after a 6-0 thrashing of Hannover which came just a week before. Pléa was also finally on the scoresheet in the league following a few lacklustre performances, something else which will make the away side's fans delighted. Upamecano got sent off in the 30th minute which definitely didn't help the home side who now find themselves down in 15th, just 1 point above the relegation zone.

I can't come in here and tell you I expected this result to be honest. When we played them in the Supercup earlier this season, they won 3-2 and it was a tight game but I have to be honest and say I'm not sure what happened for them today. Sometimes teams just don't turn up or it's not their day and I think this is probably what it was for them considering how much we dominated the match. I'm extremely happy with our performance though and will take nothing away from the players who gave their all in a tight away match and their efforts absolutely paid off.
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It's been quite an incredible last month for Weiß's side who have won all 6 of their games played, scoring 19 goals and conceding just one against Kyiv in the Champions League. With another tough month in November coming up and some big games in December as well, Gladbach have their work cut out for them but they've already faced some of the stronger sides in the league such as Bayern, Dortmund, Leverkusen and Leipzig.

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Saying that, it seems that the "big" sides this season have got to be the likes of Frankfurt, Hamburg, Mainz and Schalke who Gladbach all face in the next 2 months in what should be a terrific Bundesliga campaign. Bayern and Dortmund are slowly making their way back up the table but it's still crazy to see Bayern down in 8th after almost a third of the season already. The same can be said for Leipzig, who languish down in 15th. As for the Champions League, an impressive performance from Galatasaray against Napoli earned them a draw and has blown this Champions League group wide open. Gladbach sit 3 points clear at the top of the group with Napoli and Galatasaray battling it out for 2nd place in what could be a final showdown between those sides either starting in the next matchday when they face off again or when they both play against the group leaders Gladbach.
 
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