Berlin, Dec 10 (IANS) Borussia Monchengladbach defeated Stuttgart 3-0 and consolidated their second place in the Bundesliga, only surpassed by the leader, Borussia Dortmund, and staying ahead of Bayern Munich at the end of the fourteenth matchday.

The whole team of Monchengladbach, who lost to Leipzig last week, regained their competitive edge on Sunday against an opponent who is struggling to get out of the bottom half, reports Efe news.

However, Borussia did not step up their game until late in the game. It was in the 70th minute, with a goal from Brazilian Raffael, that started the scoring by taking a pass from Florian Neuhaus, who scored the second goal seven minutes later.

Stuttgart faced the last minutes with one less player after the expulsion of Erik Thommy. Shortly after, an own goal by French Benjamin Pavard rounded off the Borussia Monchengladbach victory, who are now seven points behind Dortmund and two ahead of Bayern Munich.

--IANS gau/bg