EFinally another victory! Eintracht Frankfurt can still win and can still hope to participate in the European Cup after the crash in the Bundesliga. Coach Oliver Glasner’s team made it through to the final of the DFB Cup with a hard-fought 3-2 (0-1) win at relegation candidates VfB Stuttgart and probably had their last chance to win in Berlin on June 3 in a duel with defending champions RB Leipzig yet to qualify for the Europa League.
A double strike by Evan Ndicka (51st) and Daichi Kamada (55th) as well as a penalty by Randal Kolo Muani (77th) gave the Europa League champion, who initially seemed dispassionate, a place in the ninth final of the DFB Cup. Vice world champion Kolo Muani equaled the club record set by Bum-Kun Cha (1980/1) and Bernd Hölzenbein (1973/74) with his sixth goal in the current competition.
Most recently, and for the fifth time, Frankfurt had won the golden trophy in 2018. For Eintracht, the semi-final victory was only the second in the last twelve competitive games. Tiago Tomas had put the initially much more snappy Stuttgart in the lead (19th). Substitute Enzo Millot (83rd) shortened. In the final phase, Borna Sosa saw yellow-red (86th).
Eintracht would take part in the Europa League if they won the cup, as in the 2021/22 season. In the event of a defeat, seventh place could be enough to take part in the Conference League play-offs – they are three points apart from VfL Wolfsburg, which is placed there. Stuttgart, on the other hand, can and must concentrate on their main task: staying in the Bundesliga.
The game started with a short delay because Frankfurt supporters torched numerous Bengalos and acrid smoke settled over the stadium. The clouds only slowly disappeared, meanwhile things got straight to the point on the pitch: Mario Götze (4th) and Djibril Sow (5th) at Eintracht and Serhou Guirassy (9th) at VfB both saw yellow cards from referee Daniel after fouls Bat.
Stuttgart had more of the game, was looking for an early goal and used the first chance of the game surprisingly consistently: New national player Josha Vagnoman played smartly in front of DFB team manager Rudi Völler and former national coach Joachim Löw to Tiago Tomas, the Portuguese’s hard shot hit the near corner.
The first defeat under Hoeneß
Frankfurt was only better in the game after half an hour, also increasingly gained the upper hand, but hardly came up with any good deals. The first, albeit harmless, shot on goal came from Daichi Kamada (44′). On the other hand, Silas (35′) and Tiago Tomas (45′ + 2) almost scored the second VfB goal, goalkeeper Kevin Trapp saved both times.
Eintracht then came out of the dressing room transformed and with a clearly recognizable will to win – and they took their chances. Ndicka scored after a skilful pass from Kolo Muani, Kamada was lucky in the penalty area four minutes later against an unfavorable Stuttgart team.
For VfB it was the first defeat in the sixth game under coach Sebastian Hoeneß. The upward trend in the Bundesliga is of course not yet sustainable: in the table, the Swabians, who are in 15th place, are only separated by a point from Schalke 04 in the first direct relegation zone. However, VfB is also going to Berlin: on Saturday he will meet Hertha BSC there in a relegation duel.
