Preview:Borussia Monchengladbach vs Karlsruher SC - prediction, team news, lineups

Borussia Monchengladbach will be desperate to claim their first win in over two months when they play host to Karlsruher SC in Tuesday’s DFB-Pokal clash.

In contrast to their hosts, the 2.Bundesliga side should enter the second-round clash in high spirits after cruising past Greuther Furth on Saturday.

Match preview

Gladbach have experienced a change of manager since they claimed a 3-2 victory over fifth-tier Atlas Delmenorst in the first round of the Pokal.

After a poor finish to the 2024-25 Bundesliga campaign, Gerardo Seoane was unable to spark an upturn in fortunes in the opening stages of the new season and was subsequently sacked following a heavy 4-0 home defeat to Werder Bremen.

Interim boss Eugen Polanski has been unable to make a positive impact, having overseen two draws and three defeats in his first five games in charge, including a 3-0 loss in Saturday's home clash against Bayern Munich.

Jens Castrop's early red card left die Fohlen with a mountain to climb against Bayern, and while they battled hard to protect the goalless scoreline, they could not prevent the in-form league leaders from netting three goals in the final half-hour.

As a result, Gladbach remain rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga table and have now gone 15 league games without a win since beating RB Leipzig back in March.

With that in mind, die Fohlen may appreciate the distraction of a cup match, although they will be wary of the fact that they have fallen at the second-round stage in two of the last three seasons.

Karlsruher are battling in the 2.Bundesliga for the seventh consecutive season since winning promotion from the third tier in 2018-19.

Christian Eichner's side are sitting in seventh spot and four points adrift of the top three after winning five, drawing three and losing two of their 10 league matches this term.

Karlsruher suffered their second defeat of the season in their most recent home game against Kaiserlautern, before they returned to winning ways in Friday's one-sided affair against Greuther Furth.

Fabian Schleusener and Lilian Egloff scored in the first period, before Marvin Wanitzek netted a second-half brace to wrap up a 4-1 victory in Furth.

That result represented Karlsruher's first away victory since easing to a 5-0 success in their DFB-Pokal first-round clash against ZFC Meuselwitz in August.

KSC are now preparing for their first competitive meeting with Gladbach in 16 years, and after failing to win their last three head-to-head matches, they are bidding to beat die Fohlen for the first time since picking up a 3-0 home victory in August 1999.

Borussia Monchengladbach DFB-Pokal form:

Borussia Monchengladbach form (all competitions):

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Karlsruher SC DFB-Pokal form:

Karlsruher SC form (all competitions):

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Team News

The hosts will head into the cup tie without the injured trio of Nathan Ngoumou, Robin Hack and Tim Kleindienst.

Castrop’s suspension applies to the Bundesliga, so he will be free to start on Tuesday despite being sent off against Bayern.

Defender Joe Scally and forward Florian Neuhaus could return to the side after dropping down to the bench on Saturday.

As for the visitors, they are expected to be without Sebastian Jung and Louey Ben Farhat, while a decision is yet to be made on Marcel Franke’s availability.

Defender Christoph Kobald and midfielder Egloff will have to be assessed after they were forced off in Friday's win over Greuther Furth.

Having scored three goals in Karlsruher’s last four matches, Schleusener will be looking to continue his impressive form when he features up front at Borussia-Park.

Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:

Nicolas; Scally, Elvedi, Diks, Netz; Reitz, Sander, Engelhardt, Castrop; Tabakovic, Neuhaus

Karlsruher SC possible starting lineup:

Bernat; Scholl, Rapp, Beifus; Pedrosa, Opitz, Burnic, Wanitzek, Herold; Forster, Schleusener

We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Karlsruher SC (Gladbach win 2-1 a.e.t)

Gladbach have experienced a torrid start to the Bundesliga season, and as a result, confidence will be at a premium ahead of Tuesday's cup clash.

With that in mind, we think that Monchengladbach are in for a tricky night against Karlsruher, but in the end, we think the home side's Bundesliga quality will prevail to scrape through to the next round.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.