Gladbach Finally Win: Mohya and Scally Inspire 3-2 Comeback at Stuttgart
Blessin's Foals off the mark at last
Borussia Mönchengladbach are no longer pointless, no longer the answer to a trivia question, and no longer the story of a record nobody wants. Alexander Blessin's side, bottom of the Bundesliga going into Friday night, won 3-2 at VfB Stuttgart to collect their first points of the 2026/27 campaign — becoming the last top-flight team to do so and, crucially, avoiding the ignominy of becoming the first club in Bundesliga history to lose its opening seven matches.
They did it the hard way. Ermedin Demirovic, captaining a heavily rotated Stuttgart side, volleyed the hosts in front inside five minutes. By the interval, the Foals had drawn level through a piece of improvisation from Joe Scally. By the 66th minute, a 17-year-old named Wael Mohya had bent the match entirely to his will.
Two coaches, two sets of gambles
Sebastian Hoeneß made six changes to the XI that impressed in the Champions League in midweek. One was enforced: Lorenz Assignon came in at right-back for the injured Josha Vagnoman. Finn Jeltsch, Atakan Karazor, Leo Sauer, Demirovic and Dzenan Pejcinovic also started in place of Jeff Chabot, Grischa Prömel, Bilal El Khannouss, Deniz Undav and Jamie Leweling. Sauer, a costly summer addition, made his first Bundesliga start for the club.
Blessin, dealing with injuries and the looming shadow of that unwanted record, made two changes from the side beaten by Hoffenheim the previous Sunday. Shuto Machino came in up front for the injured Isac Lidberg, while Daiki Hashioka replaced Kevin Diks, who withdrew at short notice for personal reasons. Hashioka slotted into the back three, with Philipp Sander taking Diks' central berth.
Demirovic's speculative opener
Stuttgart's plan was patient, their passing short and neat — until Demirovic abandoned the choreography. In the fifth minute he took aim from around 22 metres, central and apparently hopeful. Moritz Nicolas got a sprawling paw to the ball but could only push it off his own palms and into the net.
Gladbach almost answered instantly, Wael Mohya slaloming into the box in the seventh minute before Hugo Bolin, with space and time, dragged his close-range effort wide. From there the Swabians looked the likelier side: Pejcinovic shot on 14 minutes, Assignon on 16, and Ramon Hendriks nearly converted a corner with a neat turn-and-finish on 18.
The visitors had lost the thread altogether, unable to press or progress, reduced to hopeful long vertical balls. "Gladbach completely lost the thread for a time," as the night's assessment of the first half hour put it.
Scally's backheel changes everything
The stirring came from the left. Bolin beat his man and squared across goal on the half hour, only for Machino to arrive a fraction too late to convert. Four minutes later Angelo Stiller fouled Bolin outside the area, collected an elbow in the aftermath, and after a lengthy delay Blessin's side unveiled a rehearsed set-piece routine — Florian Neuhaus flicked on, but Fabio Chiarodia could not find a threatening angle and Dennis Seimen gathered.
Then, on 38 minutes, the equaliser. Mohya carried up the left, Lukas Ullrich crossed, Maximilian Mittelstädt could only half-clear to Zento Uno, and Scally guided Uno's shot into the net with a backheel. "Scally's equalizer completely changed the tenor of the match."
Five added minutes for Stiller's treatment gave the Foals time to press again. Neuhaus forced a full-stretch parry from Seimen at 45+4. Seconds later Mohya had a double chance, his second effort thumping the crossbar, and Uno turned the rebound wide. Stuttgart went in at 1-1 and knew they were fortunate.
"Mohya Magic"
It took six minutes of the second half for the teenage wunderkind to pick up where he left off. On 51 minutes, double-teamed near the touchline by Sauer and Assignon, Mohya squeezed past both, recovered from a slight slip, stayed upright and cut the ball back perfectly for Machino, who finished with the poise of a man who had been waiting all season for that chance.
Mohya took a bow in front of the VfB Kurve. The ultras did not appreciate it, and the whistles followed him for the rest of the evening. "One certainly had the feeling that Mohya wasn't done for the evening."
Hoeneß responded immediately, throwing on three attackers — Undav, El Khannouss and Leweling — on 55 minutes and changing shape. Demirovic, so clinical from distance, suddenly lost his touch from close range: tame on 58, wide on 63.
The decisive blow arrived on 66, and it was scrappy. Seimen could not hold Mohya's low shot; Hendriks cleared off the line; Scally hurled himself into a full-force scramble with the goalkeeper and Mittelstädt, somehow emerged with the ball and rolled it across the face of goal for Mohya to head over the line.
With 20 minutes left, Blessin withdrew both Scally and Mohya — the two men to whom the turnaround belonged. Summer signing Yukhym Konoplia, whose injury had kept Scally at the club in the first place, made his debut.
Demirovic sets up a nervous finish
Konoplia's marking was loose, and Demirovic punished it on 83 minutes, heading in his second of the night to halve the deficit and make it a five-goal thriller. That goal was the 22nd Gladbach have conceded in the Bundesliga this season. The late pressure came — crosses rained into the box deep into stoppage time — but the clearest chance fell to El Khannouss at 90+1, and Nicolas, much improved after his error on the opener, saved comfortably.
Blessin celebrated on the pitch with his players. Gladbach remain bottom of the table, but the record belongs to nobody.
VfB Stuttgart player ratings
Dennis Seimen (6) – Lorenz Assignon (5), Ramon Hendriks (6), Finn Jeltsch (5), Maximilian Mittelstädt (4) – Atakan Karazor (4), Angelo Stiller (5) – Leo Sauer (3), Chris Führich (6) – Ermedin Demirovic (6), Dzenan Pejcinovic (6).
Substitutes: Deniz Undav (5), Bilal El Khannouss (5), Jamie Leweling (6), Grischa Prömel (6).
What comes next
Gladbach host Karlsruhe in midweek DFB-Pokal action; Stuttgart travel to Paderborn for the second time this month. Stuttgart have now lost five of their seven league fixtures and could yet be dragged into the relegation zone before the weekend is out.