Ramy Bensebaini capped an impressive outing with a goal as Borussia Monchengladbach decimated hosts Shakhtar Donetsk 6-0 in Tuesday’s Champions League encounter.
Fuelled by Alassane Plea’s hat-trick, the Prussians proved too hot to handle by the Ukrainian Premier League giants at the Donbass Arena.
Manager Marco Rose fielded the same starting XI that held Spanish giants Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw the last time out. That paid off as the Germans took the lead with their very first attempt at goal after Plea fired Stefan Lainer’s assist into the left corner of Anatolii Trubin's goal.
Monchengladbach doubled their lead in the 17th minute as defender Valeriy Bondar turned Christoph Kramer’s shot into his own net.
In a goal-laden opening 45 minutes, Plea scored his second of the night after 26 minutes after popping past Trublin a pass from Lars Stindl.
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A minute before the half-time break, Bensebaini scored from close range after his initial header off a corner kick was stopped by Bondar.
In the second half, the hosts rarely threatened while Rose’s team continued to fire on all cylinders. Twenty-five minutes from full-time, Stindl increased the lead after punishing the opposing goalkeeper for his poor goal kick.
A few minutes later, Plea completed his treble after receiving a pass from Marcus Thuram to beat the offside trap before firing home with a cool finish as Monchengladbach recorded their biggest win in Champions League history.
Bensebaini, who now boasts of two goals in the competition’s history, was in action from start to finish, while Guinean midfielder Ibrahima Traore replaced the hat-trick hero in the 82nd minute.
Thanks to this result, the Borussia-Park giants lead Group B temporarily with five points from three games pending the outcome of Real Madrid's match against Inter Milan, while the Ukrainians sit at the base of the log with just two points from the same number of matches.
Unbeaten in their last eight games across all competitions, Monchengladbach are guests of Bayer Leverkusen in Sunday’s Bundesliga outing with the Algerian expected to feature.
The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winner joined the Prussians in 2019 on a four-year deal worth eight million euros from Ligue 1 side Rennes. In the process, he became the most expensive Algerian defender ever.