Borussia Mönchengladbach got their Bundesliga campaign off to a winning start on Saturday evening as they defeated Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-0 at the Borussia-Park stadium.
Two goals in three second half minutes from Jonas Hofmann and Fabian Johnson sealed the win for the foals as they have now given themselves the perfect start to what they hope is going to be a good season.
On the other hand, Leverkusen will feel that with the chances they had in the first half they should have got something from the game but due to their sloppness at the back in the second half they start the season with a defeat.
Leverkusen missed two massive chances to take the lead
The game started with the visitors happy to let the home side have most of the ball early on as they tried to play their way into the game and when they did the really should have taken the lead.
Leon Bailey had a golden opportunity to give the visitors the lead in the 17th minute of the game when Kevin Volland's cross into the box found the winger unmarked in the box but he hit the bar with his header when he should have scored.
Their next chance was equally as big as a great run and cross from Julian Brandt found Volland in the box on his own but by the time he took his strike on goal, Louis Beyer got back on the line to keep the ball out from going into the net.
Hazard wasted the chance from the spot to give the foals a half-time lead
The foals really struggled to get going in the first half but just before half-time they were gifted the chance to take the lead from the penalty spot after Benjamin Henrichs handled the ball in the area.
Thorgan Hazard stepped up to take the penalty but his shot was brilliantly saved by Ramazan Özcan, who went the right way much to the relief of Henrichs.
That was as good as it got for the foals though in the first half as the whistle went soon after with the scoreline goalless much to the disbelief of both sides, who had the chance to take the lead.
Hofmann made no mistake with the foals second penalty of the evening
Whatever was said to the home players at half-time by Dieter Hecking worked as they started with much more intent at the start of the second half as they started to close down the Leverkusen players from the front.
This led to them getting their second penalty of the game as Aleksandar Dragović was adjudged to have fouled Hofmann in the box and referee Christian Dingert pointed to the spot.
Hofmann himself stepped up to take the penalty and clamly slotted the ball into the back of the net sending Özcan the wrong way to give the hosts the lead.
Johnson added a second after an impressive passing move
It got even better for the Foals three minutes later when a brilliant one-two between Raffael and Johnson in the box ended with Johnson putting the ball into the back of the net with the Leverkusen defenders all over the place.
The confidence was therefore showing in the foals play and they really should have made it 3-0 with their next attack when Hofmann played Raffael through on goal but the striker was only denied by a combination of the keeper and the post.
Alario missed the chance to get a consolation goal for the visitors as they fell to an opening defeat
After that flurry of chances, the foals took their foot off the pedal a bit and that allowed Leverkusen to have more of the ball but they really struggled to create many clear cut chances until the 85th when Lucas Alario should have scored.
The striker found himself in space in the box and his header from a great cross was brilliantly saved by Yann Sommer, but he shouldn't have been given the keeper a chance of making the save.
That was as good as it got for the visitors in the second half as they fell to defeat in their first game due to their slopyness at the back, while the foals will feel this win is a great platform for the rest of the season.