Bundesliga Player Ratings Stuttgart 2-3 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach have managed to avoid setting the record for the worst-ever start in Bundesliga history, collecting their first points of the season and winning their first match under new head coach Alexander Blessin with a 2-3 away victory over VfB Stuttgart. The Bundesliga's last-placed team remain rock bottom of the table, but have finally become the last top-flight team to pick up points in the 2026/27 campaign.
Stuttgart, meanwhile, have now lost five of their seven league fixtures and could even potentially be pulled into the relegation zone before the weekend is out. Despite a promising start to their Champions League cycle, Sebastian Hoeneß' Swabians have collected just six domestic league points in the young season.
Both coaches employ significant changes Hoeneß made six changes tothe XI that delivered an encouraging performance in the Champions League midweek. One enforced injury change saw Lorenz Assignon deputize forthe unavailable Josha Vagnoman.
In addition to the right-back switch, Finn Jeltsch, Atakan Karazor, Leo Sauer, Ermedin Demirovic, and Dzenan Pejcinovic started in place of Jeff Chabot, Grischa Prömel, Bilal El Khannouss, Deniz Undav, and Jamie Leweling. Sauer -a not inexpensive summer addition- made his starting debut for his new Bundesliga club.
Blessin,dealing with both injury problems and the threat of an unwanted Bundesliga record, made two changes to the starting XI that lost last Sunday against Hoffenheim. As expected, Shuto Machino worked in place of the injured Isac Lidberg up front.
Defender Kevin Diks also had to withdraw at short notice due to personal reasons. This meant that Daiki Hashioka joined his Japanese compatriot Machino as a new BMG starter.
Hashioka slid into Blessin's back three while Philipp Sander took over Diks' central position. Demirovic opens from distance After Stuttgart attempted to breach the penalty area via the short passing game in the opening few minutes, Ermedin Demirovic suddenly opened the scoring with what initially appeared a highly speculative distance effort.
The VfB forward uncorked a strong effort from about 22 meters out in a central position in the 5th minute. Gladbach keeper Moritz Nicolas managed to take the zip off Demirovic's shot with a sprawling paw, but the ball rolled off Nicolas' palms and into the back of the net anyway.
The visiting Gladbach players nearly produced an immediate response via a nice individual run from Wael Mohya into the box in the 7th minute. Unfortunately, Mohya's teammate Hugo Bolin - despite having plenty of space - sent a close-range effort wide.