Berlin (AFP)

Since the announcement in mid-February of the departure of his coach Marco Rose in Dortmund next season, Mönchengladbach has conceded six consecutive defeats.

A "comeback" Tuesday in Budapest against Manchester City, after the 2-0 defeat in the first leg, would be a miracle.

A change of coach sometimes causes a healthy "psychological shock" in a team that is doing badly.

At Borussia Mönchengladbach, the opposite phenomenon has just occurred: the team has totally collapsed since the news of Rose's departure was made public.

And the successful coach, taken to the skies by the German football world for two years, seems utterly powerless, like the sorcerer's apprentice, to repair the damage he himself has caused.

Four defeats in a row in the league, one elimination in the cup, and the slap of the first leg against Manchester City: that it seems far away, this month of January when the "Colts" firmly believed in their chances of qualifying for the second consecutive time for the Champions League, after a brilliant 4-2 win in the league against Dortmund.

- Under orders from Klopp -

Since then, the team has slipped to tenth position in the standings, ten points from fourth place, which gives access to the premier competition.

And he would need a dramatic trend reversal to even hope to grab a place in the Europa League.

During the first setback of this series, the 44-year-old coach admitted that the news of his departure had had a detrimental effect: "Everything that happened this week has disturbed the players, it is because of me and I take responsibility for it, ”he said.

Except that four weeks later, the brilliant technician admired by all is about to leave behind a field of ruins.

What he achieved at M'Gladbach will however remain in the history of the club.

Recruited from RB Salzburg, where he won two consecutive Austrian championship titles (2018-2019), he was the first coach to qualify the "Colts" for the modern Champions League.

The club's last exploits in C1 date back to the 1970s.

And he kept his promise to bring back to the banks of the Rhine "a football of combinations, dynamic and fast".

Player, he had evolved in Mainz for seven years under the orders of a certain ... Jürgen Klopp.

- "No miracle" against City -

This season had started well again, with home victories over Bayern Munich, Leipzig and Dortmund in the Bundesliga, and a brilliant qualification in the group stage of the Champions League, behind Real Madrid but ahead of Inter Milan.

But in recent days, the press has wondered - and asked him - if he will even finish the season on the bench of Mönchengladbach.

Assures him that he does not think for a moment to resign.

"It is normal that the questions come, he admits however, because since the announcement of my transfer, we have no more results."

Before facing the monster Manchester City, anyway differently armed than Mönchengladbach for the Champions League, Rose wants to be realistic: "It will not be easy, he admits, because at the moment we have other concerns We can't wait for a miracle, but we're going there anyway to have a good game. "

For this part relocated to Budapest because of Covid-19, Mönchengladbach will be officially "away" and City "at home".

© 2021 AFP