Featured Game – Eintracht Frankfurt 5-2 Union Berlin
The common cliché in football is that the game is a game of two halves. However, sometimes a game can feel like there was only one half. This was one of those occasions. Nearly all the action took place in the first 45 minutes, with six of the eventual seven goals already scored by the break – the most this Bundesliga season so far. After drawing away in Leipzig last weekend, Eintracht would have wanted to return to winning ways, but facing an unpredictable Union is never easy. The club, only promoted to the top-flight for the first time last campaign, have not experienced the second season syndrome that has seen so many teams crash back down due to a false sense of security built up by a successful first. Therefore, the half time score line would have come as something of a welcome surprise for Eintracht, however not without a series of trials and tribulations beforehand.
The start to the contest went exactly as the hosts would have desired. Injuries and suspensions had forced coach Adi Hütter into some changes to the starting line-up, notably with both André Silva and Luka Jovic included from the off. In fact, the Frankfurt attack had a rather potent look to it, with Daichi Kamada and Filip Kostic completing a formidable front four and the number of goals that would follow only highlighted their prowess. Inside two minutes, they were in front already. Unsurprisingly, it was top-scorer Silva who notched to set the ball rolling. His on-field relationship with Kostic has really borne fruit for Eintracht of late and the Serbian supplied Silva with the finish as has happened many a time before. Kostic’s pace was a real factor throughout the contest, and for a back-and-forth game like this one was, often space can open up which suits a player like him.
Frankfurt’s attack would need to keep firing as well, as just five minutes later they were pegged back. A contentious decision went the way of the away side, as Makoto Hasebe looked to have been fouled in his own penalty box, but no free kick was awarded. Subsequently, the ball rolled to the edge of the box, with some players seemingly expecting the whistle to be blown. However, a player with the predatory instincts and experience in the game like Max Kruse does not switch off in these scenarios and he swept the ball home with his left foot into the far corner. The goal was given and Union were back level, much to the grievance of the home team, but instead of sulking about it, they responded by channelling their frustration into making the chances to get themselves back into the lead. Not only that, but they would grab a further three successive goals to create some real daylight between the sides. They were given a slight helping hand with the first one though.
Spatial awareness is key in football and especially for a top-level midfielder, but perhaps the importance of this was not stressed enough to Robert Andrich before the game. Playing a blind pass is never recommended, but even more so when playing one straight in the direction of your own goal, as Andrich did. It turned out, to the German’s utter despondence, that his goalkeeper Andreas Luther had moved from between the sticks to actually help him out by making a better angle for a backwards pass. Having not seen this, the midfielder played the ball anyway, with a great deal of pace that may have made it difficult for the keeper to control even if he had been at the intended target, and it rolled over the goal line for undoubtedly Eintracht’s simplest goal of the season. Luther did try to rush back to prevent the own goal, but to no avail and he was not assisted by a slip whilst attempting to do so, however he had little chance regardless. The home side did not sit back on their laurels after a gift like this one but pressed on in search of compounding their advantage. And this they did. A break forward that saw Union short in numbers at the back left Kostic and Silva with the chance to work a shot at goal. Firstly, after racing down the left, Kostic found himself faced with the goalkeeper and three defenders around him, but with Silva in more space just to his right. He squared the ball for the Portuguese striker, who chopped back past Luther before returning the ball to his teammate. This took the goalkeeper out of the equation. Kostic was now left with just two defenders on the line and he powerfully side-footed the ball first-time past both of them to increase his team’s lead. The two forwards had now netted one each and set up each other for one as well, but Silva was not done there on the scoring front. After a sensational sweeping team move, Kamada this time fed him with a great chance and he stroked his effort into the far corner for 4-1 on 41 minutes. Moreover, the three goals in just half a dozen minutes had effectively killed the tie, and even though there was always a believe that Union could respond, the deficit ultimately proved too large.
But that did not stop Max Kruse trying and he reduced the arrears in first half stoppage time with a looping header over Kevin Trapp. The former German international has provided the berlin attack with a real touch of quality this season and this goal really accentuated that fact. Despite falling backwards, his powerful neck muscles propelled the ball in the desired direction with just enough loft to sail over the goalkeeper and bring the score back to 4-2. The half time whistle sounded and we all took a collective breath. It was a scintillating first period and if the second produced anything similar then this game could have become and absolute classic. It is a shame that that was not the case. There may have been potential for an Union fightback, as they had already matched the two goals they needed to claw back, and they certainly had not been low on opportunities in the first half, with the expected goals stats actually being edged by the visitors at this point. This showed simply that if they became slightly more clinical, a revival was on the cards.
However, the contest after the break was a drab affair in comparison to before it. Frankfurt had no desperate need to extent their lead, always conscious of the away side’s threat, but confident that a resolute defensive display in this half would see them to victory. In the end, this approach paid off, with clear-cut chances at a premium and the only real one falling to Frankfurt right at the end of the game. Substitutes Steven Zuber and Timothy Chandler combined, as the American put a seal on the victory with a fine finish into the corner to get a fifth goal for the home side. The 5-2 score line perhaps did not do Berlin justice for their first half exploits, but with clinical strikers like André Silva for Eintracht, it is clear to see why they currently reside in the top four. Union retain the possibility of European football, however, and an away loss to one of the top teams in the league, from which they will take positives, will not be too worrying for Urs Fischer and his coaching staff.
The Games Keep Coming
Bayern München 4-0 Stuttgart
The fact that a Bayern home game ended 4-0 to a team sitting in mid-table could easily suggest that this was nothing more than a walk in the park for the champions. However, after finishing the contest leading in possession and nearly equalling their opponents’ shots on goal, it is Stuttgart who will wonder how the game got so very much away from them. Furthermore, when playing away in München, it is always nice to get a helping hand and Stuttgart certainly did get that, when on twelve minutes Alphonso Davies was shown a straight red card for an overzealous challenge on Wataru Endo. The foul was initially punished with a yellow card, but after a VAR review, the Canadian was sent for a very early bath. Therefore, the visitors now had their desired bit of fortune, however with Bayern these sorts of setbacks seem to just invigorate the team and one man in particular. A certain Polish striker.
It only took five minutes for Bayern to set the ball rolling after Davies’ dismissal. Gnabry and Sané tormented the Stuttgart wide defenders all afternoon and it was the former who was so instrumental for the opener. His direct play down the left flank and a driven cross for Lewandowski, set up the striker for a jabbed finish with the outside of his right foot past Gregor Kobel in the Stuttgart goal. The second goal swiftly followed. Great interplay from Müller and Sané unlocked the away side’s defence once again and when Gnabry was provided with a left-footed chance on the edge of the area, he made no mistake curling the effort into the bottom corner. 2-0 and still no let up from the hosts. Unsurprisingly, it was Müller creating again for the third goal, but this time he was the man to get the all-important final pass for Lewandowski. A high cross over the defender gave the Pole a headed opportunity from which he connected brilliantly sending the ball into the far top corner for his 34th goal of the Bundesliga season – this equalled his previous best for a single campaign, ridiculously still with a quarter of the games yet to play. Remarkable. And if you though that Lewandowski would complete his treble before half time, then you have not acquainted yourself well enough yet with the forward, whose strike from 18 yards out five minutes before the break made it 4-0 and bagged him a perfect hattrick: right foot, header, then left foot.
In the second period, it was evident that Stuttgart were playing for damage limitation and Bayern knew that the three points were already secured. Chances did still arrive though, a notable one falling to Sasa Kalajdzic, but he was unable to continue a scoring streak that had seen the Austrian net in each of the past seven games. The victory for Bayern keeps them four points above second-placed Leipzig before they meet in the first round of fixture after the international break.
Hertha Berlin 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen
This was another contest which saw the home side run away with proceedings in the first half, despite the visitors dominating possession. However, the control of the game for Leverkusen begs the question of how they possibly lost 3-0 to struggling Hertha while having 72% of the ball. There was little, in truth, that could be done about the capital side’s first goal. When a Hertha attack petered out, the ball was recycled by Jhon Cordoba for Deyovaisio Zeefuik on the right-hand side of the penalty area and the Dutchman decided to embrace the essence of some of his nation’s greats before him and curled an effort beautifully into the far top corner for his very first Berlin goal, unbelievable considering the quality of the strike. That happened just four minutes in and Bayer looked to respond to the early setback, knowing that time was on their side. However, with any trailing side searching for an equalizer, there is often a tendency to leave yourself exposed at the back and this is exactly how Hertha got in for their next two goals. Firstly, after Cordoba’s run down the right-hand side, the defence appeared to deal with the danger and Edmond Tapsoba looked to clear for Leverkusen, but Hertha’s opportunistic young Brazilian talisman Matheus Cunha was on hand to nimbly nicked the ball away from the centre-back and race through on goal. His confidence may not have been exactly brimming when presented with the one-on-one chance against keeper Lennart Grill, seeing as Cunha had failed to net in over 1000 minutes of Bundesliga action and big opportunities for much needed points had been spurned by the attacker. Notably one to equalize in the dying minutes of Hertha’s contest against Bayern a couple of months ago had gone begging. Nevertheless, Cunha found the type of finish that has seen him become one of the German top-flight’s most promising young talents and 2-0 was the score just before the half hour mark. Just after it however, Hertha had another. Poor defending that has cost Leverkusen so many points of late was once again on show, as the Berlin attackers all too easily got in down the right flank once more. Zeefuik cut the ball back for Cordoba, who initially seemed to lose control of the situation, having a tame shot at first parried by Grill, but with no defender seemingly switched on around him, the Colombian fended off the challenge of own teammate Mattéo Guendouzi before just about making enough contact with ball to send it past the Leverkusen men on the goal line. Three was how it stayed and the Bayer fightback never really seemed to amount to anything, but the sign of worrying times for the Werkself was all too clear as they departed the German capital for their long journey back west.
Rest of the Round-Up
Arminia Bielefeld 0-1 RB Leipzig
After losing ground on table-toppers Bayern last week at home to Eintracht, Leipzig had the pressure on as they visited Arminia who had experienced an upturn in form of late. No worries though for the Easterners, who managed a staggering 82% possession on the road and were rewarded for a dominant display with a Marcel Sabitzer winner inside a minute of the second half.
Werder Bremen 1-2 Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg kept their Champions League aspirations very much on track but were assisted by a peculiar own goal on eight minutes coming from the head of Josh Sargent following a Wolves set piece. A bit more predictably, the visitors’ second was notched by Wout Weghorst, playing with a point to prove after being surprisingly excluded from the latest Netherlands squad and, even though Kevin Möhwald got one back for Bremen on the stroke off half time, Weghorst’s strike was enough to secure his team the win.
Köln 2-2 Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund’s inconsistency continues to show as their fight for the top four takes another blow, this time to lowly Köln. Haaland’s goal after just three minutes looked to set up a simple victory for the away side, but the hosts turned it around via a second successful penalty conversion in two games from Ondrej Duda and then a thunderbolt after the break from Ismail Jakobs. The game was only rescued when Haaland got a 90th minute equalizer, but him storming off the pitch after the final whistle blew, summed up the frustration of a solitary point for Borussia.
Schalke 0-3 Borussia Mönchengladbach
More woes for poor Schalke. Defensive issues on full view as per usual this season and the 2. Bundesliga seems the only possible destination for the Royal Blues next campaign, but the threat of a second successive relegation is not a distant one at all, because leakiness at the back like Schalke’s does not allow you to survive in any league. Stindl netted first for Gladbach, who needed a decent victory after a recent slump, but the second goal highlighted Schalke’s biggest area of improvement for summer pre-season focus, as right-back Stefan Lainer nodded home from a corner. The home team’s misery was compounded in the second half, when an initially good save from keeper Frederik Rønnow ricocheted back off him for an unfortunate own goal, but fans would have let out a sigh of relief at just 3-0, when much much worse has been seen this season.
Hoffenheim 1-2 Mainz
After a tough fight for survival, Mainz can be adjudged as slight favourites to stay up now, as they climb out of the relegation places altogether for the first time in a long while at the expense of Köln who slip into the play-off spot. Dominik Kohr headed home from a corner just before half time to win all three points on a difficult away day for Mainz, but Hoffenheim’s European hopes have all but vanished now, as their fans can enjoy the relative bliss of a stress-free mid-table finish to season.
Freiburg 2-0 Augsburg
Christian Günter starred for the home side as they continue their push for a Europa League inclusion next campaign. Although they German left-back did not score, he had a hand in both goals for the Black Foresters, firstly providing the ball to Roland Sallai after a mazy run and the Hungarian swept into the bottom corner. Then to seal the victory, Günter’s wide free kick delivery into the box eventually fell to the feet of Philipp Lienhart, who turned home from close range to take his tally for the season to an impressive four for a centre-half and he becomes the joint top scoring defender in the division.