Monchengladbach seal 2-0 win at Stuttgart

Borussia Monchengladbach wrapped up their fourth straight win thanks to the goals by Raffael and Oscar Wendt, at the opener of the 13th round of German Bundesliga.

The "Foals" staged a compact defence over 90 minutes and scored from two successful fast breaks against Stuttgart. The home side by contrast staged a dedicated performance but lacked in penetration, Xinhua reported Friday.

Both sides staged an evenly balanced first half in which both teams had their chances to grab the lead. However, the visitors came close twice through Patrick Herrmann, whose effort was saved by Stuttgart goalkeeper Sven Ulreich, and Max Kruse, who pulled wide.

Meanwhile, the "Swanbians" almost opened the scoring through youngster Timo Werner, whose two chances were defused by keeper Marc Andre ter Stegen.

As soon as Stuttgart gained a foothold into the match, Monchengladbach broke the deadlock with 37 minutes into the match. Raffael utilized a through ball by Herrmann to shrug off three defenders, beating Ulreich at his near post.

The hosts were unable to turn things around as the "Foals" doubled the lead through Oscar Wendt who hammered home from 14 metres to kill the game at the 73rd minute.

Thus, Stuttgart suffered their 5th loss at the 13th match to sit on 8th place for now, while Monchengladbach reaped the 8th win to occupy fourth position.

The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: second placed Dortmund and front runners Bayern encounter for the top clash, Berlin face third positioned Leverkusen, Frankfurt see Schalke, newly promoted Braunschweig meet struggling Freiburg, Augsburg host Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg visit Nuremberg.