2,000 Borussians traveled to Bosnia on Thursday night as their side faced a young Sarajevo squad that amazingly contained 11 players aged just 20 or under. It was a clear David - Goliath battle on paper, the Bosnians valued at a mere €6.2 million, while the Germans totaled 118 million, around 19 times more expensive – though Favre was taking nothing for granted here.

The game started off at a frantic pace, Traoré nearly unlocking the defence with a ball for Xhaka, before Sarajevo went up the other end almost immediately, only for the ball to be cleared from the six yard box.

Only ten minutes had passed before the first goal, and it came for the visitors. Some beautiful build-up play saw Raffael and Traoré exchange back heels on the edge of the area, before the ball broke for Andre Hahn to power home from eight yards.

The Bosnians responded quickly, first Stojcev played in Okic who failed to control, before Stojcev had an effort himself, stinging the palms of Sommer from 20 yards.

Just four minutes later, the Swiss goalkeeper was at fault as the home side equalised. Velkoski swung a teasing ball in from the left, and Sommer was left in no mans land as Puzigaca headed into the empty net.

Both sides were moving the ball quickly from back to front, but the quality in the final third was lacking, and both sides were struggling to keep the ball for an extended period of time.

The game looked heading to the break all square, but the impressive Hahn had other ideas. A quick break saw him away down the right, and he did superbly to first keep the ball in play, and then deliver a pinpoint ball for Hrgota to head home. It was a goal that should well have been prevented, just like the equaliser the cross was misjudged by the goalkeeper, this time allowing the away side to capitalise on a mistake.

Not the prettiest of halves for The Foals, but two chances and two goals is a good return, and they certainly looked like scoring more whenever they went forward, with newboy Hahn the pick of the bunch.

Both sides made a change within 10 minutes of the second half, and it was a quiet opening, as Möchengladbach attempted to steady the ship. However, just before the hour mark, the match was level again. Substitute Duljevic was found on the edge of the box, and he made room before striking the ball past Sommer from 18 yards.

Lucien Favre then was forced into changing Hahn, though brought on the more defensively minded Korb in his place, though this certainly didn’t change the mindset of his team who almost went ahead for a third time instantly.

Herrmann was given a superb opportunity, but lacked the finesse as his effort flew over. When they did beat the keeper, the defence was there to mop up, with Dupovac coming to the rescue minutes later, smashing the ball off the line.

The Foals kept on coming though, and they got their reward through a superb finish. Xhaka worked the ball with Johnson deep in the Sarajevo half, and when the ball squirmed out towards Hrgota he had just a second to think, before unleashing a snapshot flew past the helpless Bandovic and in off the crossbar.

It was clear who was the man of the moment, and he nearly got his hat-trick when his costless-kick looked to be heading in, only to rebound off the post. The 21 year old forward just inches away from making the match ball his own.

That was that, and the German side managed to hold onto a lead after surrendering two, and will go into Sunday’s Bundesliga opener with Stuttgart in high spirits.

The Borussians will take a commanding 3-2 scoreline back to Borussia Park with them next week, and Sarajevo have three away goals and history against them. European football has never seen a Bosnian team in the group stages, with this looking unlikely to be a first.