Borussia Mönchengladbach made short work of SSVg Velbert in their club friendly on Wednesday, running out 8-0 winners at the home ground. The result leaves little doubt about the gap between the two sides at this stage of pre-season.
To be fair, the statistics told the story before the final whistle. Gladbach held two-thirds of possession and registered 109 attacks against Velbert's 82. They also won six corners to the hosts' two, controlling territory throughout.
And here's the thing about friendlies — you look for signs of shape rather than just the scoreline. Gladbach's defensive organisation was crisp, not conceding a single shot on target despite the margin. Velbert struggled to string passes together, completing fewer than a third of their possession spells.
The visitors arrived in decent rhythm, having won their last three friendlies before this one. Their most recent outing was a 3-1 victory over Hansa Rostock, while Velbert's record since the turn of the year shows inconsistency — a 2-1 win over Bonner in January followed by back-to-back 4-0 victories, then a 1-2 defeat to Bergisch-Gladbach last month.
By then, you could sense this was always going to test Velbert's resolve. They have not won since January, and matching up against a side with such a deeper squad and better recent results proved too much. Gladbach extended their unbeaten run to five games across all competitions.