Champions League
Bayern Munich wins – Eintracht Frankfurt flies
With a clear win, FC Bayern Munich secured progress in the Champions League. For Eintracht Frankfurt, however, the competition is almost over.
Thanks to striker Harry Kane, FC Bayern Munich reached their first goal in the Champions League ahead of schedule. The Englishman led the German soccer record champions to a 2-0 (0-0) win against Belgium’s champion Royale Union Saint-Gilloise with a double strike in the 52nd and 55th minutes. Kane, who was infallible in the premier class in the Bayern jersey until Wednesday evening, shot another penalty onto the crossbar (81st).
After the sixth win in the seventh preliminary round game, Bayern are already in the round of 16 before the last game next Wednesday in the Netherlands against PSV Eindhoven. Coach Vincent Kompany’s team will avoid two additional exhausting knockout games in February this season.
The Champions League ends for Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt’s white jerseys first disappeared in a black crowd of cheers from outsiders FK Karabakh Agdam – and then as quickly as possible into the dressing room. After the bitter last-minute knockout in the Champions League, Robin Koch and his colleagues just wanted to leave in the icy cold of Baku.
Interim coach Dennis Schmitt’s Eintracht lost 2:3 (1:1) to the outsiders from Azerbaijan in the last minute, despite a 2-1 lead, and has no chance of reaching the top 24 of the premier class table before the last matchday. Bahlul Mustafazada’s late winning goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time dashed the last remaining hopes.
“It can’t be that we concede two goals so late again. We concede three goals every game. Then it will simply be difficult to win games,” said Ansgar Knauff at DAZN. “It’s just very, very annoying.”
In front of around 30,000 spectators, Can Uzun (10th minute) and Joker Fares Chaibi (78th/foul penalty) scored on the guests’ side, who were playing again for the first time since parting ways with Dino Toppmöller. The strong double goalscorer Camilo Duran (4th/80th) kept the hosts in the game – before Mustafazada let the euphoric home fans celebrate with the last attack of the game.
This means that Eintracht’s last game in the league phase next Wednesday (9 p.m.) against Tottenham Hotspur is irrelevant; with only four points, the gap is too big.
DPA
tkr
