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Leverkusen's Amine Adli (r.) rushes Mönchengladbach's Nico Elvedi and marks the 2-0
Photo: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
At the end of the 16th matchday, Bayer Leverkusen controlled the game against Borussia Mönchengladbach for long stretches and won 3:2 (2:0).
Leverkusen benefited above all from its own speed on counterattacks and Gladbach's offensive, which had been too unimaginative for too long.
At Borussia, the newly committed summer replacement and Swiss compatriot Jonas Omlin started in goal.
In an offensive 4-3-2-1, Christoph Kramer played behind Nathan Ngoumou.
Leverkusen started with a 5-2-3 formation, with the recovered Florian Wirtz initially taking a seat on the bench.
18-year-old signing Noah Mbamba from Club Brugge was not yet in the squad.
Gladbach starts well, but is negligent in front of goal
Mönchengladbach was better in the first ten minutes of the game and looked more controlled.
But there were always inaccuracies in front of the goal.
The scene was exemplary when Kramer, who was acting very offensively, followed up well, but then played a through pass to Jonas Hofmann too casually with the outside of his foot.
The ball ended up with Julian Weigl, but his shot went wide (6th minute).
A little later, Kramer was similarly unsuccessful with a lob in the penalty area on Alassane Plea (27th).
Successful Leverkusen switching football
But Leverkusen had already recovered and made it 1-0 after a counterattack by Dutchman Mitchel Bakker.
Gladbach couldn't clear in the penalty area, Adam Hlozek first tried to turn the shot, hit the right post and Bakker then shot the ball from the left (21').
The fact that not much was happening at Gladbach was also shown by the fact that only standard situations brought danger.
Nico Elvedi's attempt to head the ball from a free-kick cross did not cause any problems for Lukás Hrádecky in the Leverkusen goal (28').
Leverkusen, on the other hand, countered again and again dangerously and above all: fast.
When Jeremie Frimpong supposedly made it 2-0, Moussa Diaby was ruled offside when Amine Adli intercepted the ball (42').
The latter did better a minute later when, after a through pass, he didn't give Elvedi a chance in the running duel and slotted in flat to make it 2-0 (43').
Gladbach changes offensively and catches the next goal
In the second half, Joe Scally, Lars Stindl and Hannes Wolf came on for Stefan Lainer, Kramer and Ngoumou to increase the pressing.
But Leverkusen scored again: Nadiem Amiri, who had come on as a substitute just three minutes earlier, slotted in the bottom left after a remarkable one-two with Adli (67').
The largely uninvolved Gladbach back line had certainly been demonstrated once more.
Florian Wirtz then made his comeback in the 75th minute, replacing Diaby, but remained pale.
Substitutes then also created late tension for Gladbach: After a cross from Wolf in the penalty area, Lars Stindl made it 3-1 with the help of the inside post (82').
With a remarkable long-range shot, Stindl even reduced the lead to 2:3 (90'+3').
The necessary turnaround came too late.
For Mönchengladbach, Leverkusen is slowly becoming a feared opponent - it was the sixth defeat in a row against Xabi Alonso's team.
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