After the bitter 0:4 defeat in Mainz, Borussia Mönchengladbach has stabilized a little with a zero number against Champions League aspirant SC Freiburg. For coach Daniel Farke, however, the situation is not easy, the fluctuations of his team were too big recently. In front of 53,014 spectators at Borussia-Park, the Gladbachers were the more active team with the better chances on Saturday, but did not get beyond the 0:0. The Freiburgers, who play Juventus Turin in the Europa League next Thursday, could have achieved a Champions League place with a victory.

As feared, the hosts had to do without regular goalkeeper Jonas Omlin and deputy Jan Olschowsky. So Tobias Sippel came to his fifth appearance of the season and remained for the first time without conceding a goal. Otherwise, coach Farke was not impressed by the criticism of his staff after the 0:4 in Mainz. The coach relied on returnee Marcus Thuram, who revived the attacking game and created chances, and otherwise only changed on the right defensive side, where Joe Scally was preferred.

The hosts controlled the game and initially came to the better scoring opportunities. Alassane Plea missed the chance to make it 1-0 after a fine pass from his compatriot Thuram and failed to SC keeper Mark Flekken (18th minute). A header by Ramy Bensebaini was prevented by Lucas Höler, who saved on the goal line (36.).

Gladbach penalty kick conceded by video assistant

The former Gladbacher Matthias Ginter was busy on his first return to Borussia-Park in central defense against his former teammates. However, the guests were a long way from their form in the last game at Borussia-Park, when Freiburg celebrated their highest Bundesliga victory with a 6-0 victory.

The first big opportunity for the guests, who became more active in the offensive in the second half, was missed by Roland Sallai, who failed in the 49th minute with a brilliant right shot to Borussia's goalkeeper Sippel.

For the Gladbachers, especially the French duo Plea and Thuram caused danger. However, referee Benjamin Brand denied the Gladbachers an initially displayed penalty for an alleged foul by Nicolas Höfler on Thuram after fierce protests by Freiburg and viewing the video images. Plea also missed the opportunity to score the winning goal shortly afterwards, so that the Borussians had to settle for 0:0 in the end. In the end, Bensebaini, who had already been warned, saw the yellow-red card for unsportsmanship. He shot the ball away after a whistle from the referee.