Welch a spectacle. Grateful and happy to have been there live in the Frankfurt Arena on the cold Sunday evening of the third Advent, 12,000 Eintracht fans made their way home, extremely satisfied. They all witnessed a wonderful, thrilling Bundesliga game, which Eintracht also deserved to win 5: 2. A win against one of the big players in the league, against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The men from the Rhineland, who were in third place in the table, went into the last game of the 15th matchday as their favorite, they had to admit defeat at the end of a furious unity, which celebrated a surprisingly high victory with great morale and irrepressible commitment.
Got into the lead early with two goals from double goal scorer Patrik Schick (5th and 22nd minute), so much seemed to indicate a success for Leverkusen. But the Hessians struck back impressively and came through Tuta (23rd), Jesper Lindström (30th), Evan Ndicka (50th), Kristijan Jakic (66th) and Djibril Sow (76th) to a well-deserved success in their by far best game of the season. “It’s amazing what the boys have achieved and how they came back,” said Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner, “simply fantastic.” His Leverkusen colleague Gerardo Seoane complained that “we lost our heads a bit, Eintracht has turned into one Intoxication played ”.
It was suggested, and Glasner did it: Makoto Hasebe was given a break, and Glasner’s Austrian compatriot Martin Hinteregger moved into the starting line-up for the Japanese. Central in the chain of defense and, like Hasebe before, also as captain. The Eintracht led by Hinteregger felt the force of Bayer early on. It only took five minutes, then it was 1-0 for the favorites. Preparer Florian Wirtz had his heel in the game – and Schick had no trouble finishing with his left hand.
It was a first setback for Eintracht, and the second was not long in coming. The fact that it was actually 0-2 after 22 minutes was also due to the intervention of the man from the Cologne basement. Unlike the referee Marco Fritz, who was insecure in many situations, the referee in front of the television showed more foresight and perspective. It actually happened that Sow had a hand in the game in his own penalty area. The due penalty was the opportunity for Schick to score goal number two for Bayer 04 undisturbed. Eintracht seemed to have been decisively beaten after a quarter of the season.
What followed was quite spectacular. The Frankfurters started a fantastic race to catch up. In return, it was the Brazilian defender Tuta who scored the Frankfurt goal from close range (23rd). The few spectators in the arena – a total of 15,000 were approved by the health department – were impressed by the courage of their team. And it was only another seven minutes before there was great applause. Best sent by Sow with a fine pass in the direction of the Bayer goal, Lindström, who was once again considered for the starting eleven, showed coolness and class when he resolutely finished with the right and equalized to 2-2 (30th).
After changing sides, the brisk football fun continued unabated. In the 50th minute, Ndicka made Frankfurt feel elated when he hit the ball with his left into the Bayer goal. 3: 2 – the game was turned. Glasner’s professionals had shown great morals. Rafael Borré (52nd) and Kostic (56th) could have scored, but goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was careful. Especially in Kostic’s deflected free kick from almost 30 meters, the Finn showed his whole class. But then he was overcome a fourth time by his old colleagues. After substitute Christopher Lenz and Kostic had prevailed on the left, Jakic decided to take a hard shot with his right into the left corner. 4: 2 – the arena was atmospheric like a madhouse. And it was completed when Sow with the goal of the evening made the big spectacle perfect with a Sunday shot in the literal sense (76th).
“I’m still a bit flashed from the performance today,” said Glasner in his analysis. “It’s unbelievable how we performed. We’re going to have a lot of pats on the back. But we have to remain humble and not take off. ”The coach received support from his sports director, who spoke of a“ further step in the right direction ”. Markus Krösche was certain: “The automatisms are working. Now we want to win in Gladbach too. “
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