BERLIN: Borussia Moenchengladbach beat VfB Stuttgart 3-0 on Sunday, with all the goals coming in a span of 15 minutes, to reclaim second spot in the Bundesliga with their fourth victory in the last five league games.

Florian Neuhaus set up Raffael for Gladbach’s opener in the 69th minute, and then scored himself eight minutes later. Stuttgart midfielder Erik Thommy was sent off with his second yellow in the 83rd, and Stuttgart’s misery was compounded a minute later when Benjamin Pavard scored an own-goal, injuring himself in the process.

The win lifted them to second place, seven points behind leaders Borussia Dortmund, who beat Schalke 04 in the Ruhr valley derby on Saturday. Champions Bayern Munich, who had moved second after their win over Nuremberg in Saturday, dropped back to third, two points behind on 27.

In Sunday’s earlier game, Mainz 05 scored a late penalty and had an injury-time goal ruled out through VAR in a 1-1 draw with struggling Hanover 96.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2018