Monchengladbach (Germany), Feb 27 (IANS) Monchengladbach were unable to overturn a 0-1 first-leg loss as Vitolo’s brace smoothed Sevilla’s 3-2 victory in Europa League’s second leg of the Round of 32.
Both sides staged a see-saw match in which 10-men Monchengladbach were able to fight back twice. Nevertheless, Sevilla’s Vitolo had large shares in their progression into the Round of 16 as he broke Monchengladbach’s resistance in the closing period Thursday night, reports Xinhua.
The hosts suffered the worst possible start as defender Martin Stranzl deflected a cross by Aleix Vidal into his own goal with just eight minutes into the game.
Monchengladbach needed eleven minutes to recover from the setback when Granit Xhaka restored parity. The Swiss international made use of a one-two with Patrick Herrmann to slot home from eight metres.
The hosts pressed frenetically for the lead but goals were scored at the other end as Vitolo completed a solo run, starting from midfield to mark the 2-1 lead against the run of game in the 26th minute.
However, a resilient Monchengladbach remained unimpressed and responded just three minutes later when Thorgan Hazard capitalised on a failed clearance attempt to chest the ball down, scoring into the far post corner. The ‘Foals’ needed another two goals to book their ticket for the last 16.
After the restart, Monchengladbach piled on the pressure but the Germans remained wasteful in front of Sevilla’s goal area as Max Kruse’s effort grazed the bar before Hazard rattled the post.
The ‘Foals’ were halted by the second yellow card for Xhaka, who was sent off (68th minute). As a consequence, things changed from bad to worse for the hosts as Vitolo utilised the second counter-attack to kill the game by making it 3-2 (79th).