Eintracht Frankfurt is keeping VfL Wolfsburg at bay with a 2-2 draw in the fight for a place in the European Cup.
Niko Kovac checked his watch with the fourth official and after the final whistle chatted with the referee and smiled. The VfL Wolfsburg coach seemed a little happier with the 2-2 (2-2) than his wildly gesticulating colleague Oliver Glasner from Eintracht Frankfurt.
But nobody really wanted to be happy. In the fight for a place on the European stage, the Hessians kept the wolves at bay in the new season – another five points. But they could not establish direct contact with the Champions League ranks.
“Obviously we wanted to keep up with a win,” said Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp DAZN: “I’m sure there was more to it in this game.” But Wolfsburg’s captain Maximilian Arnold also struggled: “Somehow two points are missing. We’ll take one with us, but it doesn’t really help us.”
Scorer Randal Kolo Muani with his eleventh goal of the season (22nd) and Evan Ndicka (26th) were successful for the guests. Omar Marmoush (11th) and Yannick Gerhardt (43rd) scored for the Kovac team.
Defensive mistakes allow a flood of goals in the 1st half
The 27,853 spectators in the Volkswagen Arena saw a varied, but only occasionally high-class game. All four goals in the first half were preceded by clear defensive errors. After the Wolfsburg equalizer, Eintracht coach Glasner made his way into the dressing room shaking his head shortly before the break.
Both teams had big problems when building up the game, again and again it was passed across or even back. And if it came to a well-played end, the opportunity to score was initially missed, so Tuta scraped an all too casual lob from Marmoush (36th) off the goal line for the Hessians.
After the change of sides, however, the actions on both sides initially became more purposeful. A dangerous long-range shot by Daichi Kamada (55th) heralded a good phase for the guests.
Ndicka missed Eintracht winning goal
However, Eintracht could not make any capital out of it. Instead, Wolfsburg got back into the game after a good hour, Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was challenged against Gerhardt in the 63rd minute.
But this intermediate high also fizzled out quickly. Mario Götze, who had been inconspicuous for a long time, now had significantly more influence on the game and caused the home side problems on several occasions.
They were exacerbated by an injury-related substitution of Wolfsburg defense chief Maxence Lacroix (75th). Frankfurt Ndicka missed the greatest chance of scoring the winning goal shortly before the end (89th).
VfL Wolfsburg – Eintracht Frankfurt: The data for the game
Wolfsburg: Casteels – Baku, Lacroix (75th Bornauw), van de Ven, Paulo Otavio – Arnold – Svanberg (85th Nmecha), Gerhardt – Wimmer (68th Paredes), Marmoush (85th Nmecha), Kaminski. – Coach: Kovac
