Monchengladbach, Germany (SportsNetwork.com) - Borussia Monchengladbach will aim for a fourth straight win across all competitions on Sunday when the club faces a tough test against Bayern Munich at Borussia Park.
Monchengladbach enters Sunday's early-season top-two clash a surprising second place in the Bundesliga, four points behind Bayern. A win on home soil would surely do wonders for the club's confidence as well as pull it to within one point of the defending league champions.
The home side will come into the match with a fair bit of confidence coming off a relatively easy 5-0 thrashing of Apollon Limassol on Thursday in the Europa League which saw Ibrahima Traore fire home a pair of goals.
The club is also coming off a comfortable 3-0 win over Hannover in Bundesliga play, which saw Max Kruse score on either side of the intermission.
Kruse found the back of the net against Hannover after just 14 minutes and Switzerland international Granit Xhaka added a second goal four minutes into the second half.
Kruse then fired home his second of the match in stoppage time off a fantastic assist from Thorgan Hazard, younger brother of Chelsea star midfielder Eden Hazard.
German international midfielder Christoph Kramer had nothing but praise for his teammates following the win on Thursday: "We had Sunday in the back of our heads a little, but we performed exceptionally well and fully deserved to pick up our first win in Europe," said the bruising midfielder.
"The second goal was important to give us more breathing room," added 'Gladbach head coach Lucien Favre.. "We've got to analyze what we've achieved properly. I'm not thinking about the weekend at all. We once again won't have any time to truly recover. Our opponents have two days to do so, but for me it's completely irrelevant who our opponents are."
Bayern will be looking to extend its lead atop the German top-flight to seven points with a win. The Bavarians have yet to suffer a defeat in league play and are riding a six-match winning streak across all competitions, including a 7-1 thrashing of Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Arjen Robben scored after nine minutes and added a second goal in the 30th minute, while World Cup hero Mario Gotze, Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Franck Ribery and Xherdan Shaqiri all scored.
Bayern manager Pep Guardiola knows Gladbach will be a tough test for his side.
"They're a top team, a Champions League team," Guardiola declared. Lucien Favre's game plan is based on superb organization, and they have very, very dangerous wide players. There can be no comparison between Borussia and Roma: We have to adapt and try to stop them getting at us on the break."
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga this weekend, Borussia Dortmund will attempt to drag itself out of 14th place on Saturday with a win over Hannover at Signal Iduna Park, while Augsburg welcomes Freiburg to the SGL Arena.
Eintracht will host Stuttgart, while Hertha Berlin battles Hamburg. Hoffenheim tangles with high-flying Paderborn at the Rhein-Neckar Arena and Saturday's late kickoff pits Leverkusen against Schalke at the BayArena.
In Sunday's other fixture, Wolfsburg will attempt to leap into the top-four with a victory over Mainz at the Volkswagen Arena.
Friday's action saw Anthony Ujah score in the 59th minute to lift Cologne to a 1-0 win over struggling Werder Bremen.
