Frankfurt show no mercy against hapless Gladbach

Knowing a defeat would see them sit bottom of the standings, Borussia Mönchengladbach had a shaky start to the game. While Eintracht Frankfurt lost at home to Union Berlin, Gladbach did score their first goal of the season in a combative draw with Bayer Leverkusen.

However, the visitors provided a ruthless first-half performance before their trip to Madrid to face Atletico Madrid, who scored five in the derby against Xabi Alonso’s side earlier in the day. Dino Toppmöller's team reached five goals inside the first 45 minutes.

Robin Koch started the goal festival when he headed home Faris Chaibi's corner-kick in the 11th minute. It was two four minutes later as Ansgar Knauff provided the final touch after Gladbach’s defense unsettled from yet another set-piece.

Gladbach seemed to recover from the early shock after that, but they conceded the third ten minutes before the break. Summer signing Jonathan Burkardt scored for the third game on the row with the assist coming from the brilliant Can Uzun.

Interim coach Eugen Polanski responded with a double change, including bringing in the only player to score for them this season, Haris Tabakovic. However, Frankfurt’s relentless display had no bounds. Chaibi joined the scoresheet before assisting Uzun's goal in the injury-time of the first-half.

The 19-year-old maintained his impressive record of scoring in all Frankfurt games this season. Polanski, who was touted to be a genuine alternative for the role on a permanent basis after last week's game, opted against more substitutions at the half-time.

Yet, Frankfurt showed no signs of slowing down as Koch netted the sixth two minutes after the interval. Toppmöller made his first substitution at the hour mark as Mario Götze makes his return from injury to replace Uzun. Buta, who saw multiple transfers collapsed in the summer, also gets to play the last half hour.

It's all about damage control for Gladbach in a night like this, and they've actually managed to, at least, score their first home goal of the season. South Korean international Jens Castroup saw his goal chalked of by VAR last week, but he registered his first Bundesliga goal in the 72th minute.

Tabakovic repeated his trick six minutes later to reduce the deficit to 6-2. The fullbacks Joe Scally and Luca Netz provided the assists for Gladbach's goals before Yannick Engelhardt became their third new signing to join the scoresheet in a bizarre game of football. That strike also means Frankfurt conceded equal number of goals (12) to their hosts.

Nine minutes were adde after the end of regular time, which gives the game the chance to became the first with double-digit goals this season. The injury-time had the game's three yellow cards before Grant-Leon Ranos scored his very first Bundesliga goal to save more face for the hosts.

Before Köln's game against Stuttgart, the free-scoring Frankfurt momentarily climbed to fourth place. Meanwhile, Gladbach are at the bottom of the standings on matchday five for the first time in a decade.