Cold, snow and a victory: FCB triumphs at Borussia Park

They had been prepared for pretty much everything since Thursday evening at the latest, the people of the Lower Rhine. They even had to close two indoor swimming pools in Mönchengladbach because the sudden onset of winter shortly before the weekend brought extraordinary amounts of heavy, wet snow onto their roofs. Then, to make matters worse, FC Bayern came to Borussia Park on Saturday evening – the leaders of the Bundesliga, who in their last appearance of 2024 with an impressive 5-1 victory over RB Leipzig, and in the first test of the This year, with an impressive 6-0 win over FC Red Bull Salzburg, they had shown a great hunger for goals in the winter.

After all: The next big winter chaos didn’t happen for Mönchengladbach against the record champions in Borussia Park, which was sold out with 54,042 spectators. But with the ultimately narrow but well-deserved 1-0 (0-0) for the guests, with a little more efficiency in the counterattack the next victory could easily have been achieved.

Working up a storm in the freezing sleet of Mönchengladbach: Michael Olise.

“It is very important to start the year with a win. The performance was very good, we created a lot of chances,” said striker Harry Kane: “We showed a very good attitude and mentality.” His penalty goal in the 68th minute was the only goal that evening. It was Kane’s fifteenth – so the England international moved back to the top of the Bundesliga’s top scorer statistics. Someone had counted: It was already the 26th penalty in a row that Kane had scored in all competitions.

In the end, the hosts, who fought bravely but were hopelessly inferior for a long time, had no choice but to complain about the penalty. Tim Kleindienst, the national striker, complained: “If you call that a penalty, then there are 24 in every game.” Referee Felix Zwayer judged the contact by defender Lukas Ullrich against Michael Olise (66th minute) in a petty way, the home team found – but was very lucky that Zwayer didn’t whistle a hand penalty against them after 37 minutes when Borussia captain Julian Weigl lost the ball to his teammate during an attempt to clear the ball Rocco Reitz was shot in the hand.

Leroy Sané, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry & Co. created some great chances in the second half at Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Gladbach also spoke afterwards of a defeat that was deserved overall – the 90 minutes had been far too one-sided for that. At times, FC Bayern had almost 80 percent possession of the ball, with 24:5 shots on goal. The first half was particularly superior: 377:122 passes were counted in favor of the guests and in the attacking third, where the game took place for well over 41 percent of the playing time, the comparison was even 131:9 passes. The only thing that was missing was the redeeming goal and the one, decisive stroke of genius that made the countable difference out of the oppressive superiority.

“This 0-0 score at half-time and all the chances we created – it was only a matter of time before we scored our first goal,” said Manuel Neuer, the Bayern captain who returned to goal. He had little to do behind a rebuilt defense – a faultless Eric Dier moved into central defense for the suspended Dayot Upamecano. Because a header from Tim Kleindienst flew just over the goal in the best home scene, Gladbach didn’t count a single shot at Bayern even after 90 minutes. At the front, the record champions, who acted with their usual aggressive counter-pressing, combined to get closer and closer to the visitors’ goal. But the great commitment, the will, the passion lacked the magical impulse.

“It’s a style of football that’s fun in training and on the pitch and that we can identify with,” said Joshua Kimmich: “We had a lot of good chances.” Thomas Müller, who replaced Jamal Musiala , should have taken the lead in the middle of the first half, but failed because of Moritz Nicolas, who was a great home goalkeeper that evening. Later, birthday boy Leroy Sané aimed over the deserted Gladbach goal, and then a handful of counterattack chances were missed. It remained exciting until the end – even if Gladbach were only able to ensure a little more balance on the field in the first quarter of an hour after the break.

For the 27th time: FC Bayern are Bundesliga champions in the first half of the season

“It’s always the talent and the mentality,” was the summary of a satisfied Bayern coach Vincent Kompany: “It wasn’t easy. We had chances in the first half and played well in the game. But the chances were greater in the second half. We didn’t decide the game there. Ultimately you have to score the goals. We didn’t do that. Then you just have to keep it at zero.” That’s exactly what ultimately made the small but crucial difference on this cold winter day in Mönchengladbach.

Here you can find all the comments about the game against Mönchengladbach:

Kompany: “Mentality was good, we are basically satisfied”