Before the home duel with Mainz 05, Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmöller appropriately emphasized that Eintracht were the favorites in the encounter. “And we accept the role too. We want to put our stamp on the game,” he said confidently. His words were followed by actions – but his team had great difficulty actively implementing the instructions.
Frankfurt defeated Mainz 1-0 on Friday evening in the Waldstadion without sparkling. Mario Götze scored the goal with his head in the 73rd minute. It was a hard-fought, hard-fought victory for Hesse, who had been weak offensively for a long time. With its eighth win of the season – it is the first success on a Friday evening in over three years – sixth-placed Frankfurt reduced the gap to fifth-placed Dortmund to two points.
Mainz (11 points), on the other hand, are still in acute danger of relegation; They have not won any of their last 14 away games and are now winless in eight matches. In any case, they can only boast one win this season against Leipzig – mainly due to their weaknesses in attacking play.
Before his last home game as club president, Peter Fischer was officially farewelled by the board of Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG. After more than 23 years in the role of club leader, the 67-year-old Fischer will retire early from his position at the general meeting on February 5th.
Returnees from the Africa Cup of Nations
His successor will be the current Vice President Mathias Beck. The spectators and Eintracht supporters gave Fischer, who was visibly moved and had tears in his eyes in front of the fans curve, a big applause and loud chants on Friday in the sold-out stadium with 58,000 spectators. Board spokesman Axel Hellmann thanked Fischer “from the bottom of his heart” for all he has done.
The Eintracht squad for matchday 19 included national players Ellyes Skhiri (Tunisia) and Fares Chaibi (Algeria), who returned from the Africa Cup of Nations. Both were used in the second half. As expected, the 18-year-old offensive player Jean-Matteo Bahoya, whom Frankfurt signed on Thursday from Angers SCO (second French league) until the summer of 2029, was not yet part of the squad. Meanwhile, Jens Petter Hauge is on the way out and will probably go back to his Norwegian homeland to FK Bodo/Glimt.
Uneventful event
After a slow start – Eintracht started with the same line-up as in the 2-2 draw in Darmstadt – it took until the 27th minute for the Frankfurt team to get their first chance to score, which was notable in the context of the game. After a cross from Mario Götze, Dina Ebimbe put his header next to the Mainz goal.
Before that, the uneventful action had taken place between the two penalty areas. Pacho’s fifth yellow card after a foul (24th) on Karim Onisiwo means that the Eintracht defender will have to take a break next Saturday in Cologne. Mainz, who were weak offensively this season, were unable to challenge Frankfurt’s defense sufficiently to score a goal. Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was not seriously tested by the opponent in the first half of the game.
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During the half-time break, the stadium management had to forego showing game “highlights” on the video cube due to a lack of appropriate images. To liven up the encounter, Toppmöller Chaibi came on for Donny van de Beek.
However, Eintracht initially lacked the necessary offensive momentum. Significantly: Pacho’s pass forward landed at Mainz in the 62nd minute. Shortly afterwards, Niels Nkounkou tried a long-range shot that missed the Mainz goal. The ball was in the goal after 73 minutes – and Mario Götze’s header to make it 1-0 withstood the scrutiny of the video referee. This one goal was enough for Eintracht, who were hardly convincing in attack, to get the full number of points.
The Frankfurters now have the chance to establish themselves further in the top half of the table. Cologne and Bochum are the upcoming opponents from the bottom of the table, whose demands are not as high as those of Hesse. As Toppmöller announced, Eintracht started off with three points collected against Mainz – and after arduous work, they still lived up to their role as favorites in the end.
