Hopping on the Borussia Mönchengladbach bandwagon this season was an easy and popular thing to do. Die Fohlen soared to second in the Bundesliga as their opponents sunk, remaining unbeaten even when facing the horsepower of Bayern Munich and the exhaustion of the Europa League.
Xhaka’s injury a major speed bump on Mönchengladbach’s quest to reach the Champions League
The Swiss international’s absence leaves a black hole in midfield for Lucien Favre to try and fill.
Lars Baron
Every wagon is a fun ride until it gets a hitch. Mönchengladbach's came on Sunday, when 22-year-old playmaker Granit Xhaka needed trainers to strap an icepack to his ankle following a collision with Robert Lewandowski. The club's website revealed that he has a torn ligament and capsule in his ankle, an injury that could eliminate any remaining appearances in 2014.
Xhaka came to Germany two years ago, with Mönchengladbach purchasing him from FC Basel for €8.5 million as a 20-year-old. He is part of a golden generation of Swiss players that have taken several leagues in Europe by storm, but at 'Gladbach specifically, Xhaka is part of a larger rejuvenation Max Eberl has undertaken over the past six seasons. The sporting director used the development and sales of Marko Marin, Marco Reus, and Marc André ter Stegen to recruit some of the finest, young mid-table talent the Bundesliga has. Once a club staring relegation in the face, Eberl has fostered a top German club, but the injury to Xhaka casts a dark cloud ahead on the path to European class.
After getting his feet wet the last two years, Xhaka is starting to come of age as a footballer. He has grown from a squad player to a centerpiece in Lucien Favre’s side, unseating midfield incumbents quickly and prowling the center of the park in a relentless attacking system. But he isn’t just one of the young studs the fans could swoon at the sight of. He is the one that has corralled the youth around him and herded them in the right direction. The role that Farve has Xhaka playing keeps him very involved, linking up the play from a solid blockade to the double-barreled cannon in front of him, and he leads the team with 81.3 touches and 66.4 passes per match
In short, Xhaka is currently one of the top midfielders in the Bundesliga, combining his playmaking skills and driven physical play to lift Mönchengladbach’s game at both ends of the pitch. He was an axel to the wagon that Favre was trying to drive to ‘Gladbach’s first Champions League appearance since 1978. Now the Swiss manager has to find the spare parts to keep the wagon from driving into a ditch.
Christoph Kramer alone cannot fill the vacuum left by Xhaka’s injury. The duo of Xhaka and Kramer rivaled the amalgamation Bayern fielded when they came to town. The two shouldered the midfield load so well that Favre could play two strikers and not have to account for the lost presence in midfield. Håvard Nordveit, the rumored replacement, can keep ‘Gladbach’s sturdy spine intact, but an attack already in the middle of the pack will have even more trouble building the scoring chances it needs.
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The exact timetable of Xhaka's absence is unknown, with some German news sources speculating a four-week hiatus. A more likely scenario is that he has played his last minutes in 2014. Even if he's out just a month, the Swiss midfielder will miss crucial tests against Hoffenheim, Borussia Dortmund, and VfL Wolfsburg, three clubs that could snatch points away from them. The club also must fulfill their the Europa League responsibilities, which will put a strain on Farve's midfield depth.
Mönchengladbach may not have to maintain a rickety bandwagon for long. The German season has an imperative rest stop called the Winterpause, a six-week break halfway between the two halves of the domestic league campaign. Mönchengladbach has to get through 13 matches without Xhaka before they can comfortably extend his recovery timeline. Until then, Farve and ‘Gladbach will have to rumble along the path, hoping that the divets in along the way do not steer them away from their Champions League dreams.
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