Moritz Nicolas (28) delivered a world-class performance in the 0-1 loss to Leipzig, making series of “unstoppable” saves against Ridle Bpku, Romulo, and David Raum. It wasn’t until the 81st minute that the Gladbach Keeper was powerless against RB’s rising star Yan Diomande (19), who appeared freely in front of him – yet was still voted “Man of the Match” despite the defeat.
However, the award did not console Nicolas, nor did the losses of direct relegation rivals VfL Wolfsburg (1-2 against Frankfurt), St. Pauli (0-5 against Bayern), or Union Berlin (1-3 in Heidenheim), which made Nicolas quite angry – as he’s fed up with the critics of Gladbach’s situation!
Keeper speaks out: “We need to stop looking at the results of our competitors quickly. We must start scoring ourselves, that’s the only thing that should concern us. We’ll definitely need more points to stay in the league, 30 won’t be enough. But we need two halves in which we’re evenly matched – which we didn’t achieve in Leipzig after halftime. We were too passive, just like last week against Heidenheim.”
“It’s brutally bitter.”
The 2-2 draw at home against the bottom team felt like a defeat to Nicolas, as did Gladbach’s loss at RB: “Everyone gave their all, we really wanted to keep a clean sheet. It’s brutally bitter that it didn’t quite work out in the end. The first half was an open exchange, and we played quite well in possession. In the second half, a bit more relief would have helped us. Yet, even then, we had a great chance for an equalizer just before the end. The point would have been very important for us; now we absolutely must win our home game against Mainz.” To avoid relying on the Bundesliga’s cellar-dwellers!
