Gladbach sweep three past Schalke

Borussia Monchengladbach emphasised their own UEFA Champions League credentials with a 3-0 win over Schalke to move above their rivals into third place in the Bundesliga. All three goals came in the first half through Marco Reus, Mike Hanke and Juan Arango for Lucien Favre's side, putting them within three points of leaders Borussia Dortmund and two ahead of Schalke with today's win. Reus gave the home side a dream start in the second minute when he took the ball past Benedikt Howedes and fired his shot into the far corner of the goal, out of the reach of Lars Unnerstall. It could have been 2-0 just moments later when Mike Hanke only just failed to capitalise on a moment of confusion between Unnerstall and Kyriakos Papadopoulos. Hanke added the second in the 15th minute, finishing an excellent team move which saw him exchange passes with both Filip Daems and Arango before providing a fine finish past Unnerstall into the far right of the goal. Arango made it three in the 32nd minute with a well-worked free-kick from almost 25 yards, touching the ball to Reus, who stopped it in his path in order to lift it over the wall and in off the underside of the crossbar. Hanke almost made it four just two minutes later, but missed from a tight angle. Gladbach had done enough in the first half to win the game and the second half was a case of playing down the clock without running any risks.