SAN FRANCISCO, November 03, (THEWILL) –Â Borussia Monchengladbach earned their biggest European away win in 47 years against Shakhtar Donetsk as French striker Alassane Plea hit a hat-trick and chalked up an assist in the game.
The 27-year old netted half of Gladbach’s goals in Kiev against a Shakhtar team that had shown impressive displays in defeating Real Madrid and holding Inter to take charge of Group B after the first two games.
The Ukrainian side were, however, brought crashing back down to earth in a brutal fashion. Plea scored twice in the first half, once either side of an unfortunate Valerii Bondar’s own goal and before Algerian left back Ramy Bensebaini added the fourth.
The result means Gladbach became the first away side to score at least four times in the first half of a Champions League match since November 2018 when Real Madrid routed Viktoria Plzen 5-0.
Plea’s second goal was the pick of the hattrick, but there were other personal achievements still to come.
The ex-Nice striker created the fifth goal for German central attacking midfielder Lars Stindl. With that, he became the first player to supply an assist in each of his first three Champions League appearances since Opta records began in 2003-04.
There was still time for his hat-trick strike, too, as Plea benefited from a VAR review after an errant offside call to net the 12th treble scored by a French player in the competition. Only Brazilians have more (18).
The final scoreline gave Gladbach their biggest win in any European away match since a 7-0 success against Iceland’s IBV in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1973.
It was also Shakhtar’s largest European home defeat, although the team now play in Kiev rather than their home Donbass region.
