Borussia Mönchengladbach ended TSG Hoffenheim’s hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League with a dominant 4-0 Bundesliga victory at Borussia-Park on Tuesday.
The heavy defeat also brought Hoffenheim’s five match unbeaten league run to an end and confirmed they will instead settle for a place in next season’s UEFA Europa League.
Hoffenheim started brightly and should have taken an early lead when Andrej Kramarić was played through by Fisnik Asllani, but the forward shot directly at goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas from close range.
Gladbach punished that missed opportunity by opening the scoring through Tomas Brolin, who reacted quickest after Wael Mohya helped the ball into his path.
The hosts doubled their advantage before halftime when Haris Tabaković finished calmly against his parent club after a deflected cross fell kindly to him inside the area.
Gladbach continued to control the match after the break, while Hoffenheim’s hopes of a comeback suffered another blow when Tim Lemperle was sent off for a second yellow card following a late challenge on Kevin Diks.
Tabaković thought he had scored again shortly after the hour mark, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
However, Gladbach soon added a third through Diks, who curled a superb strike into the top corner from outside the box after being set up by Nico Elvedi.
The home supporters were then given another boost when last season’s top scorer Tim Kleindienst returned from a long term injury.
Substitute Robin Hack completed the scoring late on with a composed finish past Oliver Baumann.
The victory extended Gladbach’s unbeaten home run in the Bundesliga to seven matches and secured a comfortable mid table finish.
Despite missing out on the Champions League, Hoffenheim still ended the campaign in fifth place, their best Bundesliga finish since the 2017-18 season.