Borussia Monchengladbach’s unbeaten run that has seen them emerge as the toughest challengers to leaders Bayern Munich has revived memories of the all-conquering team of the 1970s ahead of Sunday’s clash with Borussia Dortmund.
Gladbach, five-time champions from 1970 to 1977, have this season equalled the 17-game unbeaten run of the great 1970/71 team coached by Hennes Weisweiler to stay four points off the Bavarians along with Wolfsburg, who are second on goal difference.
On Sunday they face troubled Dortmund, who may have booked a Champions League knockout spot early on Tuesday but have lost seven of their 10 league games so far to lie in 17th place.
“To be honest I did not even know until last week that we could equal a record,” said winger Ibrahima Traore.
“It is amazing though that we are still unbeaten this season and obviously we want to extend this run as long as possible,” said the Guinea international, whose move from Stuttgart this season has proved golden.
Uneaten in 10 league matches as well as in the Europa League and DFB-Pokal (German Cup), Gladbach have been moulded into a winning outfit since Swiss coach Lucien Favre took over in 2011 to narrowly save them from relegation.
They certainly did not do it the easy way, losing key players in the past seasons, including Brazil defender Dante and Germany international Marco Reus to Bayern and Dortmund respectively.
Favre managed to gradually instil a winning mentality in a team that lacked any consistency for decades and dropped down to the second division as well as past glories started to fade.
But with a lightning-quick passing game, a powerful attack with Germany international Max Kruse leading the charge and the league’s second best defence that has let in just five goals in the Bundesliga, Gladbach have every right to dream big.
They now face a Dortmund team that have shown two faces, a highly successful one in Europe and a disastrous in the Bundesliga.
“Records mean not too much for me,” Favre told reporters. “But for Gladbach this is good and we want to continue our run.”
They can, however, improve on the 44-year-old record even before Dortmund, when they take on Apollon Limassol in Cyprus for the Europa League later on Thursday.
Leaders Bayern, also unbeaten and on 24 points, travel to Eintracht Frankfurt while Wolfsburg entertain Hamburg.
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