Pace, tricks, goals: Eintracht Frankfurt remains in the fast lane in the Bundesliga thanks to an offensive gala performance. Coach Oliver Glasner’s team defeated TSG Hoffenheim deservedly 4-2 (3-1) and climbed past Borussia Dortmund to a place in the Champions League. Four days before the prestigious Rhein-Main derby at FSV Mainz 05, the Hessians celebrated magic football at times, but also allowed themselves a few defensive inattentions.
“Only the SBU will be German champion,” chanted the happy supporters again and again – even if defending champion Bayern Munich is still five points ahead at the top of the table. Djibril Sow (6th), Randal Kolo Muani (8th), Dina Junior Ebimbe (29th) and Jesper Lindström (56th) scored for the seventh win in the last eight competitive games. For their part, the guests who made mistakes remained without a win in the fourth game in a row, Christoph Baumgartner (38th) and Ozan Kabak (46th) only did cosmetic results.
Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche made no secret of his delight at the performance of the hosts: “I’ve seen a few good games from us, but that was really good again,” said Krösche in the skyinterview and drew a positive balance after the last home game of the year: “We have achieved all the goals that we have set ourselves and still have potential – we are on the right track.”
Against this background and of course in view of the good run of the past few weeks, Glasner had warned his team against carelessness. “We mustn’t approach the matter half-heartedly. We don’t win a game with butterflies in our stomachs,” emphasized the Austrian.
After the moody farewell to long-time defense chief Martin Hinteregger, his team got going like the fire brigade. First Sow asserted himself robustly in the penalty area and executed through the legs of Oliver Baumann. The TSG goalkeeper then smacked forward a long-range shot from Lindström that was actually too central, and Kolo Muani sunk the rebound powerfully. Even after that, Eintracht stayed on the gas pedal without their ailing captain Sebastian Rode.
The Kraichgauer, who were changed to five positions, seemed completely overwhelmed without stabilizer Grischa Prömel (broken ankle) with the variable turbo offensive of the Hessians. Only after a good 20 minutes did Andre Breitenreiter’s team gain some access and increasingly started their own offensive efforts. But there was a lack of pace and creativity in possession of the ball.
Eintracht Frankfurt awards several top-class players
Instead, Ebimbe completed a great combination completely free-standing on the other side. “They just overran us,” Baumann said after the game, still dismayed. Baumgartner’s TSG connection after Kabak’s filing came out of nowhere.
Breitenreiter reacted to the pomadic appearance of his team at the break with a double change. Kabak created excitement again after a few seconds with a powerful long-range shot.
Although the Kraichgauer played better in a row, Eintracht always seemed a bit more mature – and even missed out on more top-class players after Lindström’s goal.
Eintracht Frankfurt – TSG Hoffenheim: The voices
Oliver Glasner (Eintracht Frankfurt coach): “I’m very happy. I’m excited about our attacking game, we scored wonderful goals. But we also have to be very critical. We let the opponent back into the game too easily. That’s an issue that haunts us. But then it was The reaction was great. We had a lot of fun playing, but weren’t so solid on the defensive from the 38th minute.”
Andre Breitenreiter (TSG Hoffenheim coach): “We got into the game very well for the first six minutes, but two individual mistakes put us behind. Eintracht in their current condition then clearly showed us the limits. We can be happy that it wasn’t even clearer. We have to recognize that it’s not enough for us to be a top 16 team in Europe.”
Eintracht Frankfurt – TSG Hoffenheim: The data for the game
