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Mönchengladbach (dpa) - Thanks to Marcus Thuram, Borussia Mönchengladbach has reported back in the fight for the European Cup places and at least for the time being conquered the seventh place in the table in the Bundesliga.

The team of the outgoing coach Marco Rose at the end of the season won after a very weak first half against the immediate rivals SC Freiburg with 2: 1 (0: 1).

With the second victory in a row and now 39 points, the Gladbachers were able to initiate the turnaround after a long negative series.

The Freiburg (37), without a win in Mönchengladbach for 26 years, fell back to ninth place.

Thuram scored the goals for the hosts with a brace (53rd / 60th minute).

Roland Sallai had put Freiburg in the lead (10th).

Late in stoppage time, the Breisgauer celebrated the alleged 2: 2 - which, however, did not count due to an offside position.

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After the 3-0 win at FC Schalke 04, Gladbach had to change three times because Jonas Hofmann (Corona), Nico Elvedi (calf) and Ramy Bensebaini (yellow card suspension) were canceled.

For Elvedi, Jordan Beyer moved to the defense center alongside Matthias Ginter.

The first test of the new defensive duo led to the first goal.

Sallai converted a pass from Ermedin Demirovic, who had returned to the starting lineup, to make it 1-0 for the guests.

Twelve minutes later, the Hungarian even had the 2-0 on the foot, but failed to Borussia goalkeeper Yann Sommer, who saved against Lucas Höler in dire straits shortly before the break.

«We have almost no chance.

We play awkwardly.

Freiburg shows us how easy it is, ”said Gladbach's Vice President Rainer Bonhof at DAZN during the half-time break.

Freiburg coach Christian Streich went into the game with personnel concerns.

Vincenzo Grifo came back from the Italian national team with a positive corona finding, Nicolas Höfler was missing from the defensive midfield.

For this, Yannik Keitel joined the starting line-up for the first time this season.

The defense was switched to a chain of three.

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The Gladbach team had a hard time against the compact central defensive row and hardly created any scoring chances after Lars Stindl missed a good opportunity for the hosts right at the beginning of the game.

In the outer positions too little came from Hannes Wolf and also from Thuram, who tried hard but often got stuck.

Oscar Wendt also lacked the dynamism of Bensebaini in his 300th competitive game for Borussia.

Center forward Alassane Plea often dropped back to get the balls in midfield.

But Thuram's surprising double after the break put the hosts in the front.

Freiburg's Baptiste Santamaria helped with the first goal, while the Frenchman rounded Freiburg goalkeeper Florian Müller and made his third Bundesliga double perfect.

After that, the hosts had even more chances and at the end of the day they couldn’t miss the ultimately happy victory with a concentrated defensive performance.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210403-99-77141 / 2

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Squad Borussia Mönchengladbach

Squad SC Freiburg