Ramy Bensebaini and Breel Embolo each scored twice as Borussia Mönchengladbach’s early swarm caught Bayern Munich off guard in the DFB Cup second round on Wednesday, helping the Foals to a rampant 5-0 victory.

Borussia Mönchengladbach 5-0 Bayern Munich
Goals: 1-0 Kone 2’ (assist: Embolo), 2-0 Bensebaini 15’ (assist: Hofmann), 3-0 Bensebaini (pen. 21’), 4-0 Embolo 51’ (assist: Elvedi), 5-0  Embolo 57’ (assist: Netz)

Gladbach coach Adi Hütter had lamented his side’s lack of a cutting edge recently, with the Foals scoring just once from 41 shots across their last two Bundesliga outings against Stuttgart and Hertha Berlin - but they had no such shortcomings here. The Foals took the lead inside two minutes when Kouadio Kone received a return pass from Breel Embolo to slot past Manuel Neuer from 10 yards. That set the tone for a furious spell of pressure from Gladbach, with further chances for Jonas Hofmann and Embolo before Bensabaini pounced to finish off a sweeping team move that began with Joe Scally on the right. Bensebaini grabbed his second of the game a short while later, putting the home side 3-0 up after 21 minutes with a coolly taken penalty following Lucas Hernandez’s foul on Embolo. The closest Bayern came to scoring in in the first half was when Leroy Sane got behind the Gladbach defence to collect Leon Goretzka’s pass, but his cross into the middle under pressure from Scally was cleared.

The Reds set out to make amends in the second half and Yann Sommer had to be alert to keep out a swerving, long-range effort from Goretzka, before Serge Gnabry blazed off target after collecting a brilliant pass from Joshua Kimmich. However, worse was to come for Bayern. Embolo made it 4-0 when he took advantage of a defensive mix-up to race on to Nico Elvedi’s clearance and fire through Neuer’s legs. The Swiss attacker notched his second of the night moments later following Luca Netz’s superb through-ball, tearing past Benjamin Pavard to place a precise shot into the bottom corner. Bayern have rarely, if ever, been undone in such a manner, but they still attempted to fight back, with their best chance falling to substitute Josip Stanisic, who snatched over from a promising position. Thomas Müller also sent a close-range volley straight at Sommer, his effort indicative of an evening in which nothing seemed to go right for Julian Nagelsmann’s side in what was, ultimately, a chastening defeat for the 20-time cup winners.

Match stats

• Scally made his competitive Gladbach debut in the DFB Cup first round. He has started every game since.
• Bensebaini’s goals were his first this season. He has now struck four times in five appearances against Bayern.
• Bayern have now been knocked out in the DFB Cup second round for a second successive season, having lost 6-5 on penalties to Bundesliga 2 side Holstein Kiel in 2020/21.
• Lewandowski is on 17 goals in 14 competitive games in 2021/22, but has now scored just twice in 20 career meetings with Gladbach.
• Bayern are record 20-time DFB Cup winners; Gladbach have won the competition on three occasions.
• Bayern failed to score for the first time in 85 competitive games, dating back to a goalless stalemate with Leipzig in February 2020.

Line-ups:

Gladbach: Sommer - Elvedi, Ginter, Beyer (Netz 54’) – Scally (Herrmann 69’), Zakaria, Kone, Bensebaini – Hofmann (Neuhaus 73’), Stindl (c) (Plea 69’) – Embolo (Thuram 73’)
Unused subs: Sippel, Wolf, Benes, Müssen
Out: Doucoure (Achilles), Kramer (thigh), Lainer (ankle)
Coach: Adi Hütter 

Bayern: Neuer (c) - Pavard, Upamecano (Süle 55’), Hernandez, Davies (Coman 55’) - Kimmich, Goretzka (Tolisso 64’) – Gnabry (Stanisic 66’), Müller, Sane - Lewandowski
Unused subs: Früchtl, Richards, Sabitzer, Sarr, Musiala
Out: Choupo-Moting (muscular), Ulreich (knee)
Coach: Julian Nagelsmann 

As it happened!

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