Borussia Mönchengladbach

2008–09 season
Oliver Neuville, and mascot Jünter in March 2009
President	Rolf Königs
Head coach	Jos Luhukay (until 5 October) Christian Ziege (interim, 5 – 18 October) Hans Meyer (from 18 October)
Stadium	Borussia-Park
Bundesliga	15th
DFB-Pokal	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Rob Friend (7) All: Rob Friend, Marko Marin (7)
Highest home attendance	54,067 (sold out; tied between 5 teams) [a]
Lowest home attendance	36,166 v Hannover 96
Average home league attendance	44,881
Biggest win	8–1 v Fichte Bielefeld
Biggest defeat	5–0 v Bayer Leverkusen
Home colours Away colours
←  2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 Borussia Mönchengladbach season was the 108th season in the club's history. They played in the Bundesliga, the top tier of German football. It was the club's first season in the top tier since their relegation from the Bundesliga in 2007.

They also took part in the DFB Pokal, Germany's top club knockout competition, where they reached the second round before being eliminated 2–0 by fellow Bundesliga side Energie Cottbus, who they coincidentally played a part in relegating later on in the season.

Season summary

In the summer transfer window, Jos Luhukay notably sold German under-21 youngsters Eugen Polanski and Robert Fleßers, Danish Tor des Jahres winner Kasper Bøgelund, and Angolan international Nando Rafael, to Getafe, Mainz 05, Aalborg, and AGS, with all bar the last being free transfers. In replacement, Michael Bradley, Karim Matmour, Gal Alberman and Jean-Sébastien Jaurès signed with die Fohlen.

At the start of the season, Mönchengladbach encountered troubles in the Bundesliga, with several disappointing performances. The worst of it came in a 5–1 defeat to 12th place Hannover 96, saw manager Jos Luhukay dismissed in October with only 1 win in 7 league matches, and elimination from the DFB-Pokal by Energie Cottbus. Christian Ziege's brief one match stint as manager saw Borussia get their 4th point of the season in a 2–2 draw to Bochum away, with Hans Meyer taking the reins for the rest of the season.

In the winter transfer window, Meyer signed Belgian goalkeeper Logan Bailly from Genk, Czech national Tomáš Galásek from Baník Ostrava, and Canadian defender Paul Stalteri from Tottenham Hotspur, with Meyer selling fellow Germans Alexander Voigt to Greuther Fürth, and Sascha Rösler to 1860 Munich. In a tough final day battle, Mönchengladbach played Dortmund in the Borussia derby, while Bielefeld faced Hannover. Cottbus took on Leverkusen, and won 3–1, and as Bielefeld finished with a 1–1 draw, they went down to 20th, cementing their place next season in the 2. Bundesliga. Mönchengladbach were able to salvage a 1–1 draw in the derby, which secured Bundesliga status. Meyer escaped the drop with die Fohlen while being bottom of the league from mid December to early March. Meyer left the club at the season's close, and recently sacked Arminia Bielefeld coach Michael Frontzeck took his place.

Squad

Squad at end of season ^{[1] [2]}

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   GER Christofer Heimeroth 2 DF   GER Sebastian Schachten 3 DF   BEL Filip Daems ( captain) 4 DF   NED Roel Brouwers 5 DF   CIV Steve Gohouri 6 DF   GER Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker 7 MF   MLI Soumaïla Coulibaly 8 MF   CZE Tomáš Galásek 9 FW   ISR Roberto Colautti [b] 11 MF   GER Marko Marin [c] 13 DF   CAN Paul Stalteri 14 FW   SWE Sharbel Touma [d] 15 DF   GER Thomas Kleine 16 FW   CAN Rob Friend 17 DF   NED Patrick Paauwe 18 GK   GER Frederic Löhe

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 MF   ISR Gal Alberman 20 DF   FRA Jean-Sébastien Jaurès 22 DF   GER Tobias Levels 25 FW   GER Moses Lamidi [e] 26 MF   USA Michael Bradley 27 FW   GER Oliver Neuville [f] 28 MF   GER Johannes van den Bergh 29 MF   GER Alexander Baumjohann 30 GK   BEL Logan Bailly 31 DF   BRA Dante 32 DF   GER Christian Dorda 33 DF   GER Tim Heubach 37 MF   GER Tony Jantschke 40 FW   ALG Karim Matmour [g] 41 DF   GER Oliver Stang

Transfers

In

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred from	Fee	Date	Source
40	MF	Karim Matmour	SC Freiburg	Undisclosed	4 June 2008	[3]
6	DF	Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker	Bayer Leverkusen	Undisclosed	1 July 2008	[4]
19	MF	Gal Alberman	Beitar Jerusalem	Undisclosed		[5]
20	DF	Jean-Sébastien Jaurès	Auxerre	Free
26	FW	Michael Bradley	Heerenveen	€5,000,000	31 August 2008	[6]
30	GK	Logan Bailly	Genk	Undisclosed	22 December 2008	[7]
8	MF	Tomáš Galásek	Baník Ostrava	Undisclosed
13	DF	Paul Stalteri	Tottenham Hotspur	Free
31	DF	Dante	Standard Liège	Undisclosed	27 December 2008	[8]

Out

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred to	Fee	Date	Source
26	MF	Robert Fleßers	Mainz 05	Free	4 June 2008	[9]
9	FW	Nando Rafael	AGS	Undisclosed	1 July 2008	[10]
13	DF	Zé António	Racing Santander	Free		[11]
20	DF	Kasper Bögelund	Aalborg	Free		[12]
6	MF	Eugen Polanski	Getafe	Free	4 July 2008	[13]
17	MF	David Degen	Young Boys	Free	22 August 2008	[14]
8	MF	Sebastian Svärd	Hansa Rostock	Loan	1 January 2009	[15]
10	FW	Sascha Rösler	1860 Munich	Undisclosed	8 January 2009	[16]
13	DF	Alexander Voigt	Greuther Fürth	Free	13 January 2009	[17]
23	MF	Marcel Ndjeng	Hamburger SV	Loan	26 January 2009	[18]
21	GK	Uwe Gospodarek	Released		22 April 2009	[19]

Competitions

Overall record

Bundesliga

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Matches

Borussia Mönchengladbach v VfB Stuttgart

17 August 2008 1	Borussia Mönchengladbach	1–3	VfB Stuttgart	Mönchengladbach
17:00 CEST	Rösler  20' Alberman  54' Friend 60' Matmour  85'	Report	Hitzlsperger 15' Marica 26' Boka  31' Gómez 44' Šimák  66'	Stadium: Borussia-Park Attendance: 47,028 Referee: Herbert Fandel

1899 Hoffenheim v Borussia Mönchengladbach

23 August 2008 2	1899 Hoffenheim	1–0	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Mannheim
15:30 CEST	Ibišević 31' Nilsson  52'	Report	Jaurès  22' Daems  51' Matmour  71' Neuville  89'	Stadium: Carl-Benz-Stadion Attendance: 26,300 Referee: Thorsten Kinhöfer

Borussia Mönchengladbach v Werder Bremen

30 August 2008 3	Borussia Mönchengladbach	3–2	Werder Bremen	Mönchengladbach
15:30 CEST	Matmour 12'  90+2' Friend 30' Daems  60' Baumjohann 71'	Report	Naldo  30' Jensen  44' Pizarro 79' Diego 89'	Stadium: Borussia-Park Attendance: 54,067 Referee: Manuel Gräfe

DFB-Pokal

In the first round, Borussia Mönchengladbach were drawn against VfB Vichte Bielefeld.

VfB Fichte Bielefeld v Borussia Mönchengladbach

9 August 2008 First round	VfB Fichte Bielefeld	1–8	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Bielefeld
15:30 CEST	Önen 66'	Report	Marin 7', 11', 17' ( pen.) Colautti 9', 24' Rösler 18', 54' Brouwers 36'	Stadium: Schüco-Arena Attendance: 8,100 Referee: Babak Rafati

Energie Cottbus v Borussia Mönchengladbach

23 September 2008 Second round	Energie Cottbus	3–0	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Cottbus
19:00 CEST	Rangelov 42' ( pen.) Skela 73' ( pen.), 89' ( pen.)	Report		Stadium: Stadion der Freundschaft Attendance: 9,805 Referee: Michael Kempter (referee) [ de]

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Bundesliga		DFB-Pokal
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	GER	Christofer Heimeroth	11	0	9	0	2	0
18	GK	GER	Frederic Löhe	1	0	1	0	0	0
30	GK	BEL	Logan Bailly	17	0	17	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF	GER	Sebastian Schachten	1	0	0+1	0	0	0
3	DF	BEL	Filip Daems	35	2	33	2	2	0
4	DF	BEL	Roel Brouwers	26	3	20+5	2	1	1
5	DF	CIV	Steve Gohouri	15	2	14+1	2	0	0
6	DF	GER	Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker	9	0	6+1	0	1+1	0
13	DF	CAN	Paul Stalteri	16	0	16	0	0	0
15	DF	GER	Thomas Kleine	8	1	3+5	1	0	0
17	DF	NED	Patrick Paauwe	24	1	21+3	1	0	0
20	DF	FRA	Jean-Sébastien Jaurès	5	0	4	0	1	0
22	DF	GER	Tobias Levels	18	1	15+2	1	1	0
31	DF	BRA	Dante	10	3	9+1	3	0	0
32	DF	GER	Christian Dorda	7	0	6+1	0	0	0
33	DF	GER	Tim Heubach	0	0	0	0	0	0
41	DF	GER	Oliver Stang	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
7	MF	MLI	Soumaïla Coulibaly	5	0	0+4	0	0+1	0
8	MF	CZE	Tomáš Galásek	15	0	15	0	0	0
11	MF	GER	Marko Marin [c]	35	7	25+8	4	2	3
19	MF	ISR	Gal Alberman	17	0	14+2	0	1	0
26	MF	USA	Michael Bradley	28	5	26+2	5	0	0
28	MF	GER	Johannes van den Bergh	8	1	4+3	1	0+1	0
29	MF	GER	Alexander Baumjohann	30	3	22+6	3	2	0
37	MF	GER	Tony Jantschke	4	1	3+1	1	0	0
Forwards
9	FW	ISR	Roberto Colautti [b]	25	3	10+14	1	1	2
14	FW	SWE	Sharbel Touma [d]	2	0	0+1	0	0+1	0
16	FW	CAN	Rob Friend	25	7	23+1	7	0+1	0
25	FW	GER	Moses Lamidi [e]	4	0	0+4	0	0	0
27	FW	GER	Oliver Neuville [f]	26	1	3+22	1	1	0
40	FW	ALG	Karim Matmour [g]	35	3	29+5	3	1	0
Players transferred out during season
8	MF	DEN	Sebastian Svärd	7	0	6	0	1	0
10	FW	GER	Sascha Rösler	6	2	2+2	0	2	2
13	DF	GER	Alexander Voigt	7	0	6	0	1	0
23	MF	CMR	Marcel Ndjeng [h]	11	0	6+3	0	2	0
21	GK	GER	Uwe Gospodarek	7	0	7	0	0	0

Goalscorers

Rank [i]	Pos.	No.	Nat.	Player	Bundesliga	DFB-Pokal	Total
1	FW	16		Rob Friend	7	0	7
	MF	11		Marko Marin	4	3	7
3	MF	26		Michael Bradley	5	0	5
4	DF	31		Dante	3	0	3
	FW	9		Roberto Colautti	1	2	3
	DF	4		Roel Brouwers	2	1	3
	MF	29		Alexander Baumjohann	3	0	3
	FW	40		Karim Matmour	3	0	3
9	FW	11		Sascha Rösler	0	2	2
	DF	5		Steve Gohouri	2	0	2
	DF	3		Filip Daems	2	0	2
12	MF	37		Tony Jantschke	1	0	1
	DF	15		Thomas Kleine	1	0	1
	MF	28		Johannes van den Bergh	1	0	1
	DF	18		Tobias Levels	1	0	1
	DF	17		Patrick Paauwe	1	0	1
	FW	27		Oliver Neuville	1	0	1
—				Own goal	1	0	1
Total					39	8	47

Notes

References