Borussia regroup for Celtic crunch after Barca loss
BORUSSIA Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer insists the Bundesliga side must get over their Barcelona heartache in time for a crunch Champions League double header against Celtic.
The German outfit stunned the Catalan giants with a first-half opener from Thorgan Hazard but Luis Enrique’s side responded after the break to clinch the three points with efforts from Arda Turan and Gerard Pique.
Monchengladbach remain pointless at the bottom of Group C, one point adrift of the Hoops, and Swiss internationalist Sommer admits they do not time to feel sorry for themselves ahead of the pivotal trip to Glasgow on October 19.
He said: “We’re obviously very frustrated, but we’re still in the Champions League. It’s important that we look forward now and focus on our next game against Celtic.
“We put on a good game and made it difficult for Barcelona and we take a lot of positives away from this game.
“We played good counterattacking football but sometimes the final pass was missing.
“The atmosphere inside the stadium was great, whether it’s Champions League or the Bundesliga, the atmosphere at Borussia Park is always outstanding. As a footballer there is nothing better than playing in front of such fans.”
Mönchengladbach head coach André Schubert, who signed a new contract at the club that runs until 2019 on the eve of the Barcelona clash, said: “We played a very good game, we planned before the match to play long and be brave going forward – and we succeeded.
“But of course we are disappointed that we lost.
“We are disappointed with the result but pleased with the team’s performance. We had a number of good chances.”
Defender Oscar Wendt said: “We were a bit tired because we ran so much. In addition, we played against the best team in the world and it takes a lot of energy to defend against them.
“Our performance was good, but not good enough. The way we played can give us confidence for the next games in the Champions League.”
Borussia forward Raffael could miss the double header against Celtic after sustaining a thigh muscle injury against Barcelona.
The Brazilian, who helped set up their goal, was taken off injured three minutes after the restart. “A scan today revealed that the Brazilian sustained torn muscle fibre in his left thigh,” the club said in a statement. “So Raffael will not be available for Borussia for the coming period,”
The 31-year-old had already missed their previous two league matches with an adductor muscle injury but the club said the new injury was unrelated.
Meanwhile, Thorgan Hazard, scorer of Borussia’s goal against Barca and the younger brother of Chelsea’s Eden, is in a rich vein of form. The young Belgian internationalist has now scored seven goals in eight games and his form has already led to speculation that many of Europe’s top clubs are keeping a close eye on him.
Having spent three seasons at Chelsea from 2012-2015, it has reported the Stamford Bridge side have a buy-back clause written into Hazard’s contract but that has been rejected by Gladbach director Max Eberl.