Frankfurt Eintracht have done it and secured the much longed-for first home win in the current Bundesliga season – but the drama of the 2-1 win over Union Berlin was almost unparalleled.
Union Berlin were in action in Israel on Thursday at Maccabi Haifa and kept their chance of staying in Europe alive with a 1-0 win. Now, however, it was time to focus on the league again and to perform well in Frankfurt. Coach Urs Fischer brought in four new players compared to the Haifa game: Trimmel, who was suspended in the Conference League, and Oczipka played on the wing, Luthe returned to goal, as expected, while Prömel took his place in the centre. Rönnow (goal), Ryerson, Puchacz and Möhwald rotated out.
It was a completely different story for Eintracht, where coach Oliver Glasner relied on exactly the same starting eleven that had earned a last-minute draw (2-2) against Antwerp in the Europa League in an attempt to land his first home win with the SGE in the league.
A standard breaks the spell
Union Berlin adopted a clear counter-attacking strategy from kick-off. The Berliners let the Frankfurt side take the initiative, but for a long time they didn’t let anything go wrong at the back. Against the ball, the visitors operated in a tightly meshed 5-3-2, they attacked early and did not allow any goals to be scored.
Eintracht were unable to capitalise on their optical superiority, but then Kostic took a corner and the ball landed at the feet of Sow, who scored from 16 metres into the right corner (22nd). The 1:0 was not undeserved, and at half-time it was more than deserved.
Rowing SBU Chances
Frankfurt played a good game, were present in the duels and lively on the offensive. However, the exploitation of chances turned out to be a major shortcoming. Kamada’s header touched the crossbar (25th), Jakic headed just over (29th), Lindström was stopped by Baumgartl at the last second (34th), Kostic hit the outside of the net (36th) and Borré was just a few centimetres short (41st).
And Union? The Berliners looked tired, often ran behind and allowed themselves an unusual amount of sloppy passing. This was logically reflected in the attacking play, which was virtually non-existent – and yet Kruse had the chance to equalise shortly before the break, but his deflected 16-metre shot whizzed just over (45th).
Kruse makes it easy from the spot
Half two was not quite as fast-paced as the first. That was also due to Eintracht, who stood deeper, were more cautious and now wanted to lure the Berliners out of their reserves. That didn’t really work, in fact the shot backfired – also because Ndicka almost bungled Awoniyi in his own sixteen after just under an hour. Kruse casually converted the penalty kick to make it 1-1 (62nd).
Considering the course of the game, the equaliser was certainly flattering, but that did not change the fact that the SGE was now challenged – and they tried again. However, Frankfurt had also lost some energy, so that they were no longer as lively or as precise. It was now easier for Union to keep the danger away from their own box – and the Köpenickers did just that.
In a physical final phase, Frankfurt pushed forward once again – and were rewarded: Kostic, who was already exhausted, crossed in the last action of the game from the left half of the field in front of the goal, where Ndicka rose high and headed into the right corner for the 2-1 winner (90.+5). Immediately afterwards, the final whistle sounded – and the joy of the Frankfurt players knew no bounds. It must have been a huge weight off Ndicka’s mind that he had made up for his mistake, which had led to the penalty kick, at the last second.
There is no English week in the next few days, so both clubs have a little more time to regenerate. For the Eisernen, it continues on Friday at home against RB Leipzig (20.30), and the following day the Frankfurt team plays at Hoffenheim (15.30).
