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Soccer-'The brain' Favre masterminds Gladbach revival

By Karolos Grohmann BERLIN, May 16 (Reuters) - When Lucien Favre took over Borussia Moenchengladbach in 2011 his only mission was to keep the struggling club in the Bundesliga with a playoff win after the five-time German champions had flirted for years with obscurity and relegation. But on Saturday he completed a fairytale turnaround when Gladbach qualified for the Champions League group stage for the first time. The Swiss, nicknamed 'the brain' for his tactical acumen, led Gladbach to their biggest success in decades as the once-mighty club secured a top-three finish with a game to spare following a 2-0 win at Werder Bremen, their first win there in 28 years. Favre has got the very best out of his players throughout the season. He had done the same in previous years before Marco Reus, Dante and Marc Andre ter Stegen moved to bigger clubs but he continued developing players like Christoph Kramer, who became a Germany international and a World Cup winner last year. Gladbach got stronger as the season progressed and have collected more points since January than any team, including champions Bayern Munich. "When you look where this club was four years ago then it becomes pretty clear that the coach played a major part in where we are today," Max Kruse, whose performances this season earned him a transfer to VfL Wolfsburg, told reporters. "We were in good form last year but this year we improved even further. We lost only once this year and beat teams like Bayern, Dortmund, Wolfsburg. Amazing." Consistency has been key and Raffael, who scored both goals on Saturday, took his tally to 11 this season. It was the second consecutive season in which he has netted more than 10 goals, something the mercurial Brazilian failed to do at either Schalke 04 or Hertha Berlin. Germany international Kruse and winger Patrick Herrmann also enjoyed prolific campaigns, netting 11 goals each. "Now we have 66 points so it is a super season," the soft-spoken Favre told reporters. "I knew it would be hard against Bremen. Details made the difference today." With their last silverware 20 years ago and European success dating even further back to the 1970s, Favre has now secured a group-stage spot for Gladbach and 'the brain' is in demand with big clubs circling to bid for his services. (Editing by Ed Osmond)