Hannover 2 Borussia Monchengladbach 0: Huge blow to visitors´ top-four hopes

Borussia Monchengladbach’s hopes of Champions League qualification suffered a major blow as they went down 2-0 at rock-bottom Hannover on Friday.

Waldemar Anton – who had never previously netted in the Bundesliga – scored the hosts’ opener less than four minutes into the second half.

The 19-year-old was found by Noah-Joel Sarenren-Bazee’s cut-back and somehow caught out goalkeeper Yann Sommer with a first-time strike to the near post.

It was two for the hosts on the hour-mark as Kenan Karaman’s deflected effort bounced off the post, with Artur Sobiech on hand to apply a simple finish from close range.

Gladbach had been hoping to move into the Champions League spots ahead of Bayer Leverkusen’s match against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, but instead they extended their winless away run in the league to nine games.

As a result, Andre Schubert’s men could fall six points adrift of the top four with only four matches to play if Leverkusen are victorious and third-placed Hertha Berlin can defeat Hoffenheim.

Hannover, meanwhile, have impressively picked up four points from two games against Champions League-chasing Hertha and Gladbach under new manager Daniel Stendel having lost 13 of their previous 14 fixtures. However, they still sit seven points adrift of the relegation play-off position.