Borussia Moenchengladbach profit from stunning goalkeeper howler to become shock Bundesliga leaders after thrashing Augsburg 5-1

BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH profited from an awful goalkeeping howler as they thrashed a hapless Augsburg 5-1.

With the visitors already three down, Tomas Koubek received a back pass from Felix Uduokhai on 38 minutes and made a truly astonishing mistake to gift Gladbach a fourth.

The keeper attempted to clear the ball, but nutmegged himself and stumbled on the way to making a recovery clearance leaving Alassane Plea to tap home.

Koubek was left head in hands as his awful feet left him tangled and helpless as his side conceded four in the first-half.

Gladbach had scored three times by the 13th minute, including twice through Patrick Hermann and were up 4-0 before the visitors cut the deficit in the 80th minute.

Breel Embolo added a fifth for the hosts to lift them onto 16 points with their fourth straight league win, and topping the Bundesliga table.

Gladbach coach Marco Rose: “Coaches generally have something to be upset about but today I don’t want to and don’t have to do that.

“We did a lot of things right today. We took the right decisions with the ball, played a fantastic pressing game, were fluid and compact.

“The thing with having taken over the lead in the Bundesliga is that it is just a momentary snapshot.”

Wolfsburg also took advantage of the top clubs’ slip-ups on Saturday to move up to second on 15 after beating Union Berlin 1-0.

Wout Weghorst drilled in the winner with a fine left-footed shot in the 69th for the Wolves’ second win in a row.

Champions Bayern Munich, who lost 2-1 to Hoffenheim on Saturday, are on 14 along with RB Leipzig, Freiburg, Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen in what is shaping up to be one of the tightest title races in recent years.

Borussia Dortmund have dropped to eighth place on 12 points after twice wasting a lead to draw 2-2 against Freiburg on Saturday.