Spirited comeback helps Borussia Dortmund overcome Mönchengladbach test

A stunning 15-minute spell in the first-half helped Borussia Dortmund come from behind and claim a 4-2 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Borussia Dortmund scripted an emphatic comeback to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-2 and return to winning ways in the Bundesliga. Goals from Marcel Sabitzer, Niclas Füllkrug, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Donyell Malen helped the Black and Yellows claim all three points after Rocco Reitz and Manu Koné had scored to give Gladbach a two-goal lead.

The performance was hardly a convincing one, but Borussia Dortmund did more than enough to deserve the three points in the end.

BVB showed both their worst and their best in the first-half, as they fell two goals behind before completely turning the game on its head. Their second-half display was more dominant, even if they weren’t able to put the game to bed until the final kick of the game.

Edin Terzic decided to hand recalls to Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Ramy Bensebaini, while Emre Can also returned to the starting XI after recovering from his injury. Salih Özcan and Niklas Süle dropped to the bench, while Karim Adeyemi and Sebastien Haller missed out due to illness.

The BVB head coach asked for a proactive start from his team, but he got the opposite of that as the Gladbach midfielders steamrolled their way past the home side in the opening stages of the game.

Boyhood Gladbach supporter Rocco Reitz opened the scoring in the 13th minute, before Manu Koné added a second to leave Borussia Dortmund on the ropes.

But the second goal seemed to finally wake BVB up. And they issued the perfect response by scoring twice in two minutes against the run of play. Marcel Sabitzer got on the end of Julian Brandt’s cross to halve the deficit, before Niclas Füllkrug equalised with an excellent finish from the outside of his foot.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens then added a third in the 45th minute with a fine finish from the edge of the box to complete a remarkable comeback and give Borussia Dortmund a 3-2 lead going into the break.

Borussia Dortmund began the second-half much like they ended the first. The blistering and direct Bynoe-Gittens caused havoc in the final third and came close to doubling BVB’s lead. Marco Reus then hit the woodwork with a free-kick, before failing to beat the goalkeeper from close range.

Gladbach had a few promising moments in the closing stages but never really looked like scoring. And Donyell Malen finally made it 4-2 in the 97th minute by scoring into an empty net after goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas had joined the Gladbach attack to try and conjure up an equaliser.

The win will come as a huge boost for Borussia Dortmund, who have an incredibly difficult run of games coming up across three competitions. Terzic will hope that his side can take the momentum from this comeback win and now go on a run, starting with the trip to Milan on Tuesday.