Eintracht Frankfurt and VfL Wolfsburg have a tough Bundesliga duel with only a few highlights. Lower Saxony struck in the second half, but Eintracht came back late. And: Mainz loses in Freiburg and is unsuitable for the Bundesliga.
Michy Batshuayi saved Eintracht Frankfurt at least a point in the home game against VfL Wolfsburg with a controversial penalty in added time. The Belgian striker converted the penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time to make it 1-1 (0-0). Denis Vavro had previously grabbed the braid of Frankfurt’s Arthur Theate, and after the intervention of the video referee there was a penalty.
Aaron Zehnter initially gave Wolfsburg the lead (67th minute). But the draw doesn’t really help either team. For Wolfsburg, it was at least a small sign of respect after four competitive defeats in a row. However, the Lower Saxony team did not really gain any breathing room in the relegation battle in the second game under interim coach Daniel Bauer.
Four days after losing 3-0 in the premier class against Atalanta Bergamo, Eintracht experienced their next disappointment in a home game. The Hessians remained unbeaten in the league for at least the sixth game in a row.
The game in front of 58,000 spectators began with silence in the stands for the first twelve minutes. As in other stadiums this weekend, both fan camps protested again against the interior ministers’ planned stricter security measures.
Götze awards for Eintracht, Amoura for VfL
At first there wasn’t much happening on the pitch itself. Both teams started off erratically, although Eintracht appeared a little more active. The best opportunity in the early stages was missed by Mario Götze, whose shot went just past the right post (12′).
The Wolfsburg team, who generally acted very cautiously, had to wait until the 22nd minute for their first significant opportunity. After a fine cross from Christian Eriksen, Mohamed Amoura released the ball over the goal in front of Eintracht goalkeeper Michael Zetterer.
After the break, Frankfurt called for a penalty after Lovro Majer made contact with Knauff (55′). However, the contact was not enough for either referee Harm Osmers or the VAR to award a penalty.
The guests had the first chance of the second half. Zetterer was only able to parry a powerful long-range shot from Eriksen forward, but he then brilliantly parried Amoura’s rebound with a foot save (59′).
Tenth did better than Amoura, who rewarded Wolfsburg for an increase in performance in the second 45 minutes with a solid finish. The Frankfurt team tried to equalize in the final phase and were only rewarded with the controversial penalty.
SC Freiburg – Mainz 05 4:0
SC Freiburg has further exacerbated FSV Mainz 05’s crisis and at the same time gained self-confidence for the round of 16 in the DFB Cup. Thanks to the confident 4-0 (2-0) against the new bottom of the table, who have now been waiting for a win for eight games, the Breisgauer climb into the top half and are aiming to advance against the second division team SV Darmstadt 98 on Wednesday (6 p.m. / Sky) in front of their home crowd.
Contrary to the expectations of SC coach Julian Schuster, from Freiburg’s point of view everything went according to plan early on: first Lukas Kübler scored (12th), then Vincenzo Grifo (26th) and Johan Manzambi (50th) followed up in front of 33,200 spectators. Patrick Osterhage scored the final point (90th). Just two minutes after conceding the second goal, Mainz weakened itself with Paul Nebel’s sending off.
dpa/step
