Borussia Monchengladbach have secured their first win of the Champions League group stage with a 4-2 victory over Sevilla, but it was not enough to keep their qualification hopes alive.
The home side started strongly as they looked for a victory which would put them ahead of the Spanish outfit in the race for third and a Europa League spot, and Sergio Rico had to react smartly to keep out Ibrahima Traore's early deflected effort.
They were given a scare, however, when Kevin Gameiro fired home for the visitors only to see his effort ruled out as the ball was adjudged to have gone behind before the cross came into the box.
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The change in momentum continued as the La Liga side had a chance to break the deadlock when Yevhen Konoplyanka's shot was saved by Yann Sommer and the rebound fell just beyond Ever Banega's reach.
Gladbach came back strongly, though, and they were the side to open the scoring when, after Rico had denied Raffael, Lars Stindl was found by Granit Xhaka's fine pass to slot home his eighth goal of the season and give the German side the lead.
The hosts had a double opportunity to extend their advantage just before the break when Raffael's effort was blocked and Julian Korb fired the rebound over, and they had the first chance of the second half as Oscar Wendt's fierce drive flew just wide.
Only a fine piece of instinctive goalkeeping from Rico prevented Borussia captain Xhaka's thumping effort from outside the box from doubling the lead, but it was in vain as Gladbach put the result beyond doubt with a little over 20 minutes left to play.
Korb found Fabian Johnson on the left side of the box, and the USA midfielder curled home into the far top corner to score for the second Champions League match running.
Raffael added some gloss to the scoreline when he slid a neat finish under Rico after Stindly had unselfishly squared, although Vitolo briefly gave Sevilla slim hope when he took advantage of poor defending to reduce the deficit.
Stindl smashed home moments later to seal the victory, and though Banega converted an injury-time penalty, the German side held on to move ahead of Sevilla in the race for third. However, it was not enough to keep their qualification hopes alive due to Juventus's victory over Manchester City.
Tom Nightingale
