Borussia Moenchengladbach scored three goals in the first 21 minutes to demolish German champions Bayern Munich 5-0 on Wednesday, knocking them out of the German Cup second round for the first time in their history.
Gladbach got off to a flying start with two goals from Ramy Bensebaini and one from Kouadio Kone, putting them in command before Breel Embolo scored twice in the second half to put the game out of reach.
They became the first team to score five goals against Bayern since Borussia Dortmund won the German Cup final 5-2 in 2012, and the first team to score three goals in the first 21 minutes of a German Cup game against Bayern.
It was also their first ever Cup win over Bayern.
“I am absolutely shocked,” said Bayern sports director Hasan Salihamidzic. “We were just not there. We did not win a single tackle or challenge in the entire first half.
“Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Gladbach did it really well. We were absolutely not there. A blackout. It should not have happened to us in such a way.”
The Bavarians were overwhelming favorites after scoring a league-high 33 goals in nine games and adding another 12 goals without conceding any in three Champions League matches.
But it took only 80 seconds for the hosts to score, with Kone capitalizing on a sloppy pass from Bayern’s Alphonso Davies to beat Manuel Neuer.
The hosts should have scored again with the Bayern defense in complete disarray, with Jonas Hofmann and Embolo both coming close as the visitors’ defensive efforts piled up.
In the 15th minute, Gladbach outplayed Bayern’s static backline, allowing Bensebaini to thunder a Hofmann cutback past Neuer.
Lucas Hernández, who had a six-month prison sentence suspended in Spain earlier on Wednesday, clumsily brought down Embolo in the box, and Bensebaini sent Neuer the wrong way with an audacious penalty kick to make it 3-0.
With Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann confined to his home after testing positive for Covid-19, assistant coach Dino Topmoeller had to wait until the second half to see his players put up a decent fight.
Gladbach struck again early in the second half, with man-of-the-match Embolo beating two defenders who let a high ball bounce between them to slot the ball in through Neuer’s legs.
In the 57th minute, the Swiss scored his second goal of the evening, this time finding far too much space to score their fifth goal off the post.
