Borussia Mönchengladbach Vs. Schalke 04, 2012 Bundesliga: Gladbach Shellack Schalke

Borussia Mönchengladbach used a dominate first half to beat Schalke 04 3-0 in front of a packed house at Borussia Park. Both clubs put in uncharacteristically poor performances last weekend and were hoping to put that behind them this week.

Gladbach struck first just two minutes into the match when Marco Reus spun his defender, took two touches, and put it far post past Lars Unnerstall. Patrick Herrmann played a perfect ball to Reus, and the Dortmund man continued his excellent form with a great finish.

Schalke struggled to produce anything productive and were caught sleeping defensively just twelve minutes later. Mike Hanke and Juan Arango played a beautiful one-two in the Schalke penalty area, and Hanke curled it around a helpless Unnerstall.

At the half hour mark, Schalke defender Benedikt Höwedes was shown a yellow for a bad tackle on Reus. Arango and Reus lined up by the ball for the free kick. Arango touched it to Reus who stopped it dead, and Arango curled the free kick into the far corner. Gladbach were up 3-0 after only 32 minutes, and they weren't looking back.

The second half ran through without any true moments of brilliance from either side. Schalke could never get their attack going, and Gladbach played the final forty five minutes coasting to an impressive victory that moves them into third place just one point behind Bayern Munich and three points behind Borussia Dortmund.