Borussia Monchengladbach kick off their Bundesliga campaign on home soil as they welcome Hoffenheim to BORUSSIA-PARK with both sides coming off the back of two victories in the DFB-Pokal last time out in Germany.
They were convincing results to some degree, but it was Gladbach who stole the headlines with a stunning win over Oberachern as they hammered their opposition 9-1.
2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ 🇫🇷#DieFohlen pic.twitter.com/Hc5BouqLRu— Gladbach (@borussia_en) August 5, 2022
2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ 🇫🇷#DieFohlen pic.twitter.com/Hc5BouqLRu
Marcus Thuram scored three goals inside the first half for them as he looks to pick up from a torrid season last time out, with Jonas Hofmann also scoring two goals for the club just prior to the break to give Gladbach a 5-0 lead.
Ramy Bensebaini, Lars Stindl, Joe Scally and Florian Neuhaus all got a goal that day too in the second half.
As Gladbach annihilated their opposition, Hoffeheim took a lot of time to get the job done against Rodinghausen away from home. In fact, after seeing 68% of the ball and having 28 shots towards their goal, Hoffenheim needed extra time to get it done with a 0-0 draw coming in the first 90 minutes.
Ozan Kabak scored with five minutes to go for the Bundesliga side, before Grischa Promel scored with two minutes to go to seal the deal.
It's interesting that these two sides should now meet on the opening day as both had underwhelming seasons as they were rooted into mid-table throughout much of the latter stages and finished only a point away from each other in 2021/22.
Hoffenheim scored more goals and conceded fewer than Gladbach last season, as they netted 58 compared to Gladbach's 54, with 60 goals conceded for Hoffenheim and 61 for Daniel Farke's side.
In the end, Hoffenheim also won one extra game and therefore finished a point ahead too with one extra win but two fewer draws than Gladbach.
Gladbach barely had anything to shout about in preseason too, because while they beat 1860 Munich 6-0, Viktoria Koln 5-2 and Essen 4-2, they also managed to draw all three of their games towards the end of July with them concluding the summer fixtures with a 1-1 draw against Standard Liege, Waalwijk, and Real Sociedad.
These two actually also met on the final day of the Bundesliga season back in May. Gladbach were the winners at home that day, and with this carbon copy of the fixture on opening weekend, Stindl, Alassane Plea, Jonas Hifmann and Breel Embolo will all remember how they scored in that 5-1 win.
Forebet predicts another win for Gladbach here and for the game to once again see over 2.5 goals.