Gladbach Out Of Europa League After Xhaka Sees Red

On a night when both teams forgot how to defend, Gladbach were always chasing the game and although they twice fought back to equalize, the second half sending off of Granit Xhaka left them with too much to do.



They say even the best-laid plans go to waste. After a week of preparation for Gladbach's Europa League round of 32 second-leg match against Sevilla, home coach Lucien Favre could have ripped up his briefing notes inside the first eight minutes.



Leading 1-0 from the first leg in Spain, defending champions Sevilla scored an early opener and were always ahead in the tie, adding two more goals to secure a 4-2 aggregate victory and safe passage into the last 16.



First half goalfest







The first half floodgates were opened when Ever Banega drove forward from the Sevilla right and fed Aleix Vidal, who fired in a low cross, which Gladbach defender Martin Stranzl could only divert into his own net under pressure from Colombian striker Carlos Bacca.



If Favre might have favored a tight game, he instead found himself throwing caution to the wind as the Foals chased the three goals they then needed to progress.



They got one back on 19 minutes, when Max Kruse rolled a ball into Granit Xhaka, who back-heeled a pass to Patrick Herrmann before collecting the return and rifling home the game's equalizer.



The mountain got bigger for Gladbach on 26 minutes, however, when Vitolo ran half the length of the pitch and blasted a left-footed shot, which Yann Sommer could only palm into the top left corner.



But, in an end-to-end first half, Raffael won the ball on the edge of the Sevilla box on 29 minutes and the ball looped to an unmarked Thorgan Hazard, who chested it down and buried a shot beneath Sergio Rico to restore Gladbach's two-goal deficit.



During the goalmouth scuffle that followed, Vicente Iborra was booked for Sevilla for tucking the match ball under his shirt in an effort to prevent Gladbach forcing a quick restart.



Goodnight Gladbach after Xhaka sees red



The second half continued where the breathless first had left off.



On the hour mark, Max Kruse grazed the Sevilla bar from a wide angle after finding himself in space inside the box. A minute later Rico turned a fizzing shot from Xhaka around his left-hand post as Gladbach sought a route back into the tie.



And, with the home side throwing men forward, Aleix Vidal was allowed a lonely run on the Gladbach goal on 63 minutes, but Sommer stayed on his feet and kept the game level.



In the next pulsating passage of play, Kruse had a penalty claim turned down on 67 minutes before Xhaka was shown his second yellow card of the night for pressing his studs to the back of Iborra's calf.



With 10 minutes to go and with only 10 men on the pitch, Gladbach were effectively knocked out of the competition when Vitolo raced through a hole in the home defense to slide in Sevilla's third of the night and seal a 4-2 aggregate win.