Mönchengladbach (Germany) (AFP)

Marcus Thuram's double on two assists from Alassane Pléa, also scorer: the unleashed French forwards from Mönchengladbach temporarily lifted Borussia to the Bundesliga podium on Sunday, shattering Union Berlin 4-1 .

RB Leipzig may however push the "Foals" into fourth position if it wins or draws Monday (6.30 p.m. GMT) in Cologne, at the end of the 29th day.

Five days to go, Bayern Munich are leading with 67 points and ten lengths ahead of Dortmund (57 pts), which will narrow the gap a bit if they beat the red lantern Paderborn on Sunday (4:00 p.m. GMT). Mönchengladbach follows with 56 pts, tied with Leverkusen. Leipzig is 55 points away.

Florian Neuhaus opened the scoring for a nice goal for M'Gladbach (1-0, 17th), but it was the performance of the duo Pléa-Thuram, behind closed doors at Borussia Park (due to coronavirus), which made the difference.

First two goals of the same bill, in the 41st and 59th minutes: slightly deep center of Pléa and close conclusion from Thuram, the international hope son of the 1998 world champion Lilian Thuram.

Then at the end of the match, Pléa rewarded himself by scoring his team's fourth goal (4-1, 81st), forgotten by the defense six meters in front of the goalkeeper. Sebastian Andersson had reduced the gap to Berlin after the break (2-1, 50th).

- The C1 in the crosshairs -

This season, the French pair is the key to Mönchengladbach's success: Pléa has scored 10 times and delivered 11 assists. Thuram now also has 10 goals on the clock and 9 assists.

The Rhenish club, surprise team of the season, even remained at the top of the classification more than two months in autumn, at the time when Bayern was stuck in the crisis which led to the dismissal of Niko Kovac and the arrival on Hansi Flick's bench.

As the final sprint begins, the fight for qualification for the Champions League promises to be hot, and Mönchengladbach is not yet assured of his ticket.

Germany is entitled to four direct qualifiers for the queen competition: Bayern Munich having already (except in the unlikely event of a collapse) been assured of its place, three places remain which are contested by four clubs neck and neck: Dortmund, 57 points before his match against Paderborn, Leipzig, 55 points, traveling on Monday (6.30 p.m. GMT) to Cologne, Leverkusen and therefore Mönchengladbach, 56 points each.

Behind, the hole is made. The sixth Wolfsburg is 14 points away.

Beaten on the way to Berlin in November, while they were at the top of the classification, the teammates of Thuram took their revenge at home, without supporters but in front of several thousand cardboard effigies of their fans, who launched this operation to populate Borussia Park during the closed match period.

© 2020 AFP