Es continues to improve with unity. With the 3-1 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Frankfurt team consolidated their promising position in the top third of the Bundesliga rankings in fourth place. It was the sixth win for coach Oliver Glasner’s team from the past eight games. “It was a fully deserved win. In the first half we showed a very good transition. We’re going home very happy and very satisfied,” said Glasner after the game.
Even against an opponent who was considered to be extremely strong at home and who had won four games in front of their home crowd this season, the Hessians found solutions to unhinge the defense and Jesper Lindström (7th, 45th) ) and Junior Ebimbe (29th) to score goals that made the difference in the entertaining clash in front of 53,019 spectators.
For Gladbach it was the second duel with a Hessian football club within five days – although they had already left the first with aftermath, which influenced head coach Daniel Farke’s plans for the dispute with Eintracht.
Substitute in goal
On the one hand, the cup match against the second-rate club SV Darmstadt 98 was lost (1:2), but the defeat became even more explosive due to two absentees: first-choice goalkeeper Yann Sommer tore a ligament; Substitute Tobias Sippel stood in for him between the posts, who tried to find opportunities against Eintracht but was unable to stop the fateful course of events.
National player Jonas Hofmann (shoulder joint rupture) and Stefan Lainer, who was unwell due to an infection, were also absent. Glasner was also limited in his personal ideas due to the injury-related absence of Makoto Hasebe and Ansgar Knauff, but felt able to field the same starting XI that had defeated Leverkusen a week ago (5-1). Captain Sebastian Rode came on in the 53rd minute to replace Daichi Kamada, who was on the verge of being sent off.
The injured Gladbacher Jonas Hofmann follows the warm-up of his teammates.
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Image: dpa
Both sides didn’t wait long to reveal their intentions on this spring-like, mild October evening. It immediately got down to business with speed. A ball win by Evan Ndicka deep in his own half initiated the Frankfurt lead. The Frenchman tied up Randal Kolo Muani, who shook off former international Julian Weigl.
As the beneficiary of the brisk advance, Jesper Lindström benefited from the commitment of his colleagues – the Dane shielded the ball from two guards and ultimately pushed it past Sippel, who rushed out, into the right corner (7′).
Courageous appearance
Muani had just sixty seconds to go for the next goal, but the 23-year-old fired just wide of the left post; the nimble Frenchman couldn’t be happy about the good luck of the brave in the 26th minute when after another sprint he was pushed aside by Sippel in the last meters.
Not much was missing from an attempt by Mario Götze (28′), so that initially there was only one thing to complain about in Eintracht’s courageous appearance: there was a lack of efficiency. But this impression improved. After Kevin Trapp had made it clear again against Marcus Thuram (10th) and Lars Stindl (22nd) that he is an attentive support for the people in front, the Frankfurters hit the front a second time.
After a corner kick kicked in by Christopher Lenz, Junior Ebimbe, who was able to act without being pressured by a guard, pushed the ball into the net with his forehead (29′). And things turned out even better for him and his family: Lindström increased the lead to 3-0 (45 ‘), again staged by Muani.
“The 0-3 at half-time felt a bit surreal because there wasn’t so terribly much to see between the teams. The difference was: Frankfurt took advantage of their chances and we weren’t able to do that,” stated Gladbach coach Farke after the final whistle.
Since both Gladbacher and Frankfurter did not withdraw in many scenes, but accepted every duel with verve, there were many fouls and scenes that triggered a need for discussion on the bench. Referee Daniel Siebert warned Borussia Manu Koné (16th) and Weigl (18th) as well as Kamada (25th) and Kristijan Jakic (31st) at Eintracht until the break.
In the second period (which began in the mist of the pyrotechnics that were ignited in the Eintracht fan corner), Frankfurt countered Borussia’s tentative attempts to make the result more bearable with a deeper staggering. The addition of Rode had a positive effect on calm and order in central midfield.
But a blunder by Jakic briefly brought tension back: The Croatian lost his overview at the edge of the penalty area and let Thuram pull his own buck, which resulted in the goal (3:1, 72nd). A defective cable to which a camera drone from the TV broadcaster was attached caused an unexpected interruption in the final phase.
Several technicians rushed onto the field to repair the defect, while both teams spent several minutes talking to each other. Nothing of note happened after that and Eintracht maintained the lead that gave them three more points in a controlled manner throughout the laps.
