French forward Alassane Plea shoot and scores the third goal during
the UEFA Champions League football match group B, between Shakhtar
Donetsk and Borussia Moenchengladbach, at the Olympiyskiy stadium
in Kiev on November 3, 2020. AFP
Alassane Plea scored a hat-trick as Borussia
Moenchengladbach romped to a 6-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk in the
Champions League on Tuesday, while Atletico Madrid were held to a
1-1 draw by Lokomotiv Moscow.
As well as Plea’s goals, a Valeriy Bondar own goal and counters
from Ramy Bensebaini and captain Lars Stindl gave Gladbach their
finest European victory since their 1970s glory days.
After being pegged back to draw 2-2 in their first two outings
in Group B, away to Inter Milan and at home to Real Madrid, the
victory moves Marco Rose’s Gladbach to the top of the section, one
point above Shakhtar.
It is the Ukrainian champion’s worst defeat in a home game in
Europe, although they are currently hosting matches in Kiev having
been exiled from Donetsk since 2014 when conflict broke out in the
east of the country.
French forward Plea met Stefan Lainer’s low cross with a
first-time finish to put the visitors in front in the eighth minute
before a horror show from Bondar allowed them to double their
lead.
First, his miskick gifted the ball to Plea, and then Christoph
Kramer’s shot took a huge deflection off the Shakhtar defender on
its way in.
Plea’s superb strike into the top-left corner made it 3-0 in the
26th minute, and Algerian defender Bensebaini got the fourth from
close range just before the break.
Stindl’s goal to make it 5-0 arrived with 11 minutes left, and
there was still time for Plea to make it six after being played in
by Marcus Thuram for a goal that was given after a VAR review
confirmed he was onside.
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The result is a bitter setback for Shakhtar after they began
their campaign by beating Real Madrid 3-2 in Spain and then held
Inter last week.
Real and Inter meet in Madrid later on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Atletico were left frustrated in Moscow as their
second-half pressure failed to produce a winner against Lokomotiv
in Group A in a rare European game this season to be played before
a sizeable crowd.
Atletico beat the Russians home and away in the group stage last
season and went ahead in the 18th minute here when Hector Herrera’s
cross was headed in by Jose Maria Gimenez.
However, Lokomotiv were given the chance to equalize shortly
after when Herrera was penalized for a handball in the box
following a VAR review.
Anton Miranchuk converted the spot-kick to get the
railway-backed club back on track.
They then soaked up the pressure, as Angel Correa’s long-range
shot struck the bar before the interval and Guilherme saved
superbly from Joao Felix after the restart.
Substitute Koke also headed against the woodwork for Atletico
before Luis Suarez converted the rebound only to be flagged
offside.
The result means Lokomotiv have now gone eight Champions League
games without winning, and reigning champions Bayern can go five
points clear of Atletico at the top of Group A if they beat
Salzburg later.
AFP
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