Stuttgart 2-3 Gladbach: Blessin's Side Finally Off the Mark After Six Straight Defeats
Three unanswered goals from Joe Scally, Shuto Machino and Wael Mohya gave Borussia Monchengladbach their first points of the Bundesliga season, despite two from Ermedin Demirovic.
Zero points from six games, and staring at an unwanted piece of history: per the official Bundesliga match report, Borussia Monchengladbach arrived at the MHPArena on Friday trying to avoid becoming the first team to open a Bundesliga season with seven straight defeats. They left with a 3-2 win over VfB Stuttgart — the first points of the season, and the first victory for coach Alexander Blessin.
The worst possible start, survived
It began badly. Ermedin Demirovic put Stuttgart ahead inside five minutes — a chance the Bundesliga's data rated at just a 4% scoring probability — and the hosts controlled the first half-hour. But Gladbach steadied, and Joe Scally leveled in the 38th minute with an improvised backheel flick, a finish that sent the teams in level and changed the night's temperature entirely.
Three goals that turned a season
The decisive swing came after the restart. Shuto Machino put Gladbach in front in the 51st minute, and Wael Mohya — later voted Man of the Match — headed in Scally's delivery to make it 3-1 in the 66th. Demirovic struck again in the 83rd to set up a frantic finish, and per The Sports Encounter, goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas preserved the win with a stoppage-time save from Bilal El Khannouss. Stuttgart had 66% of the ball, but Gladbach out-created them where it counted: the official report put expected goals at 2.38 to 1.19 in the visitors' favor.
What it means
Gladbach climb off zero to three points, with a goal difference trimmed to -11. The deeper problem now belongs to Sebastian Hoeness and Stuttgart: five defeats from seven, with their only wins coming against Cologne and Paderborn, per The Sports Encounter. Losing at home to a team that had lost every game it had played is the kind of result that turns a bad run into a crisis conversation.