Borussia Monchengladbach eased to their first Europa League group stage win of the campaign, thumping Apollon 5-0 on Thursday at Borussia Park.
After starting the game strongly, the hosts were gifted the perfect opportunity to open the scoring only 11 minutes into the first half after a terrible defensive mistake from Hugo Lopez, and Ibrahima Traore fired the ball into the back of the net from close range to give his side a well deserved lead.
Borussia Monchengladbach continued to boss possession for the rest of the first half but were denied the opportunity to go further ahead by goalkeeper Bruno Vale, who pulled off a plethora of fine saves to keep the scoreline at 1-0.
However, the German side came out even stronger in the second period, with Branimir Hrgota turning in Traore’s saved effort after 56 minutes before the Guinean midfielder turned scorer again with a thumping shot from the edge of the box 10 minutes later.
They weren’t done just yet, however, and substitute Patrick Herrmann scored a fourth with a great first-time shot with just seven minutes left to play before Thorgan Hazard’s cross-cum-shot ended up deflecting off Apollon defender Angelis Charalambous, beating Vale to wrap up an emphatic win.
Despite being a point behind heading into tonight’s clash, the hosts began the game as the favourites to come away with the victory, and they started as they meant to go on, with an impressive forward line causing the Apollon defence plenty of problems in the opening stages.
They were rewarded for their efforts on the 11-minute mark after a terrible pass by Lopez went straight to Hrgota, who squared the ball to Traore to easily slot into the back of the net.
Apollon continued to struggle from then on and it was only due to fantastic goalkeeper from Vale that they didn’t go into the half-time break three or four goals down, as the Portuguese shot-stopper pulled off great saves to deny both Max Kruse and Hazard in the closing stages of the first period.
However, Gladbach picked up where they left off after the break, and Traore was on hand to cause the Cypriot side further misery 11 minutes in when his rocket of a shot was parried into the path of Hrgota, who easily slotted the ball into the back of an empty net.
Traore, who was on fire from start to finish, then scored his second of the game 10 minutes later with a fantastic low shot from the edge of the penalty area that left Vale with no chance, before the hosts seemed to sit back in an attempt to hold on to their three-goal lead.
However, even when they were defending they were causing the visitors plenty of problems all over the pitch, and it wasn’t long before it was 4-0, with Herrmann turning in a great Hazard cross with a wonderful first-time shot from the edge of the six-yard box with seven minutes left to play.
Things were only going to get worse for Apollon, who looked completely dejected and bereft of belief by now, and a Charalambous own-goal in the 91st minute wrapped up a terrible night for the Cypriot side, who have now conceded nine goals in their last two Europa League games.
