Borussia Moenchengladbach coach Andre Schubert admits his side must fix their leaking defence if they are to make a repeat appearance in the Champions League next season.

Gladbach finished bottom of their Champions League group this term, but are currently fourth in the Bundesliga table, amongst the European places, despite last Saturday's 3-1 defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund.

Schubert has pulled Gladbach up the table from bottom after five straight defeats at the start of the season under predecessor Lucien Favre.

But the recent horror record of 24 goals conceded in their last eight games in all competitions tells it's own tale.

The Foals need to stop the rot at mid-table Mainz on Friday night with only strugglers Stuttgart having leaked more goals this season in Germany's top flight.

Schubert points to missing stars, injured centre-back Alvaro Dominguez, plus the suspension of tough-tackling Swiss captain Granit Xhaka, for their recent poor defensive record.

"We want to attack and play offensively, and, of course, concede fewer goals, because that increases the probability of picking up points," said Schubert.

"The time is now to find solutions, so we can defend better with the players available to us without neglecting our strengths in attack."

Eighth-placed Mainz are winless in their last three games, but in Turkey international Yunus Malli, they have a dangerous goal-scoring midfielder, who Borussia Dortmund has tried to buy this January.

"Although Mainz has failed to score in their last three games, we meet a team who can be dangerous," warned Schubert.

"They are very compact, are good at switching to attack and have scored a lot of goals on the counter-attack and are physically very strong.

"Moreover, in Yunus Malli they have a high-quality attacker, who roams behind the striker, repeatedly goes deep and is a threat to goal."