1899 Hoffenheim secured a clear win against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga. The man of the evening was Andrej Kramaric with a hat-trick.
In the 5-1 win in front of around 21,000 spectators in the Arena in Sinsheim, the Croatian scored with a penalty kick in the 22nd minute and added twice in stoppage time in the first half (45th + 1 and 45th + 4). Tim Lemperle (24th) and Max Moerstedt (77th) were also successful for Hoffenheim. Shuto Machino (69th) was only able to shorten the score for Gladbach.
Thanks to the victory, coach Christian Ilzer’s team climbed to fifth place in the table with 30 points and continues to play for the European Cup places. It was the fifth home win in a row for TSG. The guests from Mönchengladbach, who recently beat Augsburg 4-0, are tenth with 19 points.
Ilzer praises Kramaric: “Great football art”
“A hat trick in the Bundesliga is always something special”Kramaric said at the Sportschau microphone after the game: “But I have to say it was a top performance from the whole team.”
“Andrei’s penalty broke the spell and then it was almost a perfect first half”said Ilzer. The second half is “solid” and the victory because of it “earned” been. And of course there was special praise for Kramaric: “He has incredible quality in the final third.” The third goal is “great football art” been.
Before the game, Borussia player Haris Tabakovic was particularly in focus. The center forward is on loan from Hoffenheim to Gladbach and has already scored nine goals this season. On Wednesday he had to play against his parent club – and remained pale. It was also a return for Gladbach coach Eugen Polanski, who played 137 times for TSG between 2013 and 2018.
Polanski was on the sports show microphone after the game. “We simply had a very bad first half. We knew that the intensity was very high, that the quality was good, and we also assumed that TSG played football with a lot of self-confidence, and yet we were able to defend better and play better football ourselves.”he said. That was 0:4 at the break “fatal” been.
Wild start
The game started wildly. The first two big chances came after just three minutes. First, Ozan Kabak hit the crossbar of the Gladbach goal with his head after a corner, in return Lukas Ullrich ran freely towards the Hoffenheim goal, but was denied by goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.
After that, Hoffenheim quickly took over the game, the guests had their hands full in defense. After a mistake by Nico Elvedi, Kramaric appeared in front of the goal, but goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas was on the post. A little later, Yannik Engelhardt tested his own goalkeeper in a failed defensive action.
Kramaric hits from the spot, Lemperle follows up
And then it happened. Philipp Sander was somewhat unfortunate against Wouter Burger in the penalty area and referee Christian Dingert decided on a penalty after VAR advice and viewing the images. Kramaric converted confidently as usual.
Hoffenheim followed up. After a Gladbach throw-in, Fisnik Asslani grabbed the leather, marched forward and played it free to Lemperle on the right, who fired flat from 14 meters – double strike, 2-0.
The Kraichgau team continued to set the tone and Gladbach’s chances remained rare. After a through pass from Kevin Diks, Tabakovic suddenly ran freely towards Baumann, but put the ball quite miserably next to the box. Because of an alleged offside position, the goal probably wouldn’t have counted anyway.
Two goals in stoppage time
In stoppage time in the first half – that was five minutes – things got bad for Gladbach. Because Kramaric struck ice cold twice. First he scored after a pass from Asllani and a little later he lobbed the ball over Nicolas into the box after an assist from Lemperle. We went into the break 4-0.
Machino makes the connection
In the second half it took six minutes for Hoffenheim’s first chance. Then Alexander Prass pulled the ball towards the goal from five meters, Nicolas was on the post. A little later Kramaric had the 5-0 on his feet, but was denied by Nicolas in front of the goal and overlooked Asslani, who was ready to shoot.
The Gladbachers were seen on the offensive for a longer period of time during a Hoffenheim breather. And the next goal came immediately. Rocco Reitz won the ball in midfield, quickly drove it forward and then fed Machino, who scored with a low shot from 13 meters.
Moerstedt finally puts the lid on it
However, Gladbach was miles away from turning the game around; there was only a brief rebellion. 34 seconds after being substituted, Moerstedt headed in from a cross to make it 5-1 – it was his first Bundesliga goal and the final score.
Hoffenheim against Leverkusen, Gladbach at HSV
Hoffenheim hosts Bayer Leverkusen on the next matchday on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.). Gladbach is visiting Hamburger SV at the same time.