Football – Mönchengladbach blows up all borders, Leipzig is looking for a new trainer

Every reasonably experienced football observer already knew during the jubilation worn by a mixture of spontaneous relief and over weeks of euphoria after the final whistle, which would come next: chants that act from a large and very old Mönchengladbach longing. “European Cup, European Cup”, the Gladbach fans in the stadium, after the Borussia won 1-0 (0-0) against Libras Balling Leipzig and climbed fifth place in the Bundesliga table.

What came quite unexpectedly were the words of coach Gerardo Seoane after the final whistle. “I see a team who wants the whole thing, I see no boundaries,” said the Swiss, who actually has the reputation of a rhetorical defensive player. The abolition of all borders probably means that the traditional goal of the season, which has been described in Gladbach for years with the somewhat strange term “settlement”, has been abandoned. The Borussia, which had been starved after leading years, want to play at least in the Conference League, which would also be attractive because the team could go really far in this competition. The Europa League would be even more beautiful, even the Champions League is still imaginable. “If you win a game like this, you can squint and dream a bit,” said Rocco Reitz.

Football -based, but at the same time Leipzig, who played without conviction, had failed on a well -stocked Gladbach defensive. The day afterwards, coach Marco Rose was reluctant to relate to his tasks in the Leipzig Red Bull branch. After RB did not score a goal in four away games and remained without real chance in Gladbach, before the semi-final game in the DFB Cup at VfB Stuttgart, panic apparently broke out on Tuesday. “We need a new impulse for the remaining games to achieve our season goals,” said sports manager Marcel Schäfer on Sunday. It initially remained unclear who takes over the position.

The Borussia had less possession, but played three posts and a winning goal that Alassane Plea had achieved in the 56th minute after a corner. “It was certainly not our best game, but we have defended almost everything away, hardly allowed any clear chances and were always dangerous for countering,” said captain Julian Weigl. And the audience had been shown in a very pure form why these Gladbachers are currently so strong in the Bundesliga.

The team “worked super solidarly,” said sports director Roland Virkus, while offensive player Robin Hack added: “We worked very well as a team, were very good on the defensive.” It was not a phrase, but a clearly recognizable concept of success. RB was superior to football, but somehow matt and energetic, while Gladbach merged and fought. During his replacement, goal scorer Pléa was so invalidated after 80 minutes that he could only drag himself into the cabin with difficulty. Tomas Cvancara, who represented the yellow-red Tim small service, stayed lucky with his ball campaigns, but he was aged for the team until the last second.

With a similar concept, SC Freiburg has been playing in the upper half of the table for years, the best phase of Union Berlin under Urs Fischer was also characterized by such strengths: to invest all the energies available in every game and, if possible, all the energies, especially when defending. A key player is a small service, about which Seoane said recently: “I have rarely seen that a footballer can shape a cabin so quickly.” The team has now won the team for the first time this season without the national striker, which indicates that the idea has become an attitude that all accepted.

The basis for this was cleaning up before the season with which there was space for new things: In recent years, the climate in the team of old top dogs such as Tony Jantschke, Patrick Herrmann and, above all, Christoph Kramer, who were popular but only played support roles. That was an imbalance, important positions in the hierarchy were blocked, the development of other players was slowed down. Now the old leaders are gone, Rocco Reitz is blooming, Ko ItaKura, Julian Weigl and the currently injured goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas are taking on more and more responsibility. “Everyone now feels that something is possible this year,” says Hack. And the cancellation of all borders by the trainer shows how strong this feeling has become.