Having steered Borussia Moenchengladbach from the verge of relegation in May to back-to-back victories over Bayern Munich this season, coach Lucien Favre is set to be offered a contract extension.
Gladbach’s 3-1 win over Munich on Friday shook up the Bundesliga by eliminating Bayern’s three-point lead and allowing both Dortmund and Schalke 04 to draw level on 37 points to force a three-way tie.
Since taking over in February with ‘Gladbach bottom of the league, the Swiss coach has managed to stop the rot and steered his team to victory in the relegation play-off against second division VfL Bochum.
This season has been nothing short of miraculous with Gladbach starting their campaign with a shock 1-0 win in Munich against Bayern and they finish the weekend just one point from the top.
Favre has a contract at ‘Gladbach until 2013 but director of sport Max Eberl is keen to extend his stay.
“We want to keep working hard at ‘Gladbach,” Eberl told German television show Sport1.
“Now we are striving to make this work sustainable with Lucien Favre and that includes, of course, a contract extension, which will be discussed soon.
“We will go step-by-step. Lucien Favre is exactly the right coach for us.”
At ‘Gladbach, Favre has helped develop midfielders Marco Reus and Patrick Herrmann, who both scored in Friday’s home victory which blew the Bundesliga title race wide open.
Reus, 22, will switch to Borussia Dortmund for next season and has cost the defending champions 17 million euros ($A20.98 million) after having broken into the Germany team this season.
Herrmann, 20, scored twice against Bayern and in that form could well follow Reus into the plans of national coach Joachim Loew.
So dramatic is Gladbach’s rise that talk of a Champions League place next season is now realistic.
Favre’s team are currently fourth in the table, but with the top six in Germany qualifying for Europe, their fans are starting to dream of international football.
“Borussia will certainly play international football next season, either in the Champions League or in the Europa League,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes after his side were well beaten at Gladbach.
