Thanks to a 2:1 victory at Olympiakos Piraeus Eintracht Frankfurt secured their place in the Europa League for the winter.
Piraeus coach Pedro Martins opted for two changes compared to the 1-3 defeat in Frankfurt a fortnight ago: Instead of Cissé and Bouchalakis, Ba and Onyekuru started.
Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner made five changes after the last-minute-1:1 against RB Leipzig, but only two of them voluntarily. Hasebe, Jakic, Chandler, Barkok and Lammers started for Hinteregger, Toure (both on the bench), Hrustic (ankle problems), Kostic (ankle and Achilles tendon problems) and Durm, who was out at short notice with gastro-intestinal problems.
Kamada counters El-Arabi – Trapp holds strong
Who – like Glasner – had expected stormy Greeks at the start, was initially deceived. In the first 30 minutes or so, both teams were in midfield, but each of them made the most of their only good chance to score: Piraeus started the game with El-Arabi, who was a bit too free, scoring after a long sprint by Onyekuru to make it 1:0 (12.). But Eintracht countered only a little later in the person of Kamada, who was skilfully released by Borré – 1:1 (17.).
In the final quarter of the first half, Olympiakos increased the tempo and intensity and caused problems for the SGE. Trapp made a brilliant save against the released Masouras in the 36th minute. The keeper was also on hand for a powerful shot by Mady Camara (39th). And so it remained a draw at half-time.
Onyekuru misses – Glasner’s Joker decides
After the restart, the game was more open, with the Greeks having more of the play. However, Ndicka’s 57th-minute offside call created a great opportunity for the agile Onyekuru, but the Nigerian shot just wide of the goal.
For a long time, there was little worth mentioning from the Hessians on the offensive. Only Glasner’s jokers brought improvement: Lindström, who came on for the unfortunate Lammers, forced Vaclik to make a save (69th). Olympiakos were more committed in the final phase, but hardly developed any more penetrating power. And so a successful attack via Ndicka and Lindström was enough for the SGE, so that in the end, with a little luck, Joker Hauge scored from close range for the 2-1 victory – and thus lifted the Frankfurt team into the intermediate round (90.+2).
The Eintracht visit promoted Fürth on Sunday at 19:30, and the Europa League continues on 25 November at 21:00 against Royal Antwerp. With a win from the last two games of the group stage, the Hessians would also secure first place in the group – and thus direct entry into the round of 16.