The relief at the end of the negative series of five games without a win was written all over the faces of the Eintracht Frankfurt professionals.
With the 2-0 (1-0) win against promoted team 1. FC Heidenheim, the Hessians rewarded themselves for a dominant performance in front of 55,800 spectators and ended their crisis in results in the Bundesliga.
“It’s a nice evening with a win to zero. You could tell that a little bit had fallen away from us,” said Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. “Today we rewarded ourselves on the pitch.” He has the feeling that the team has gotten to know each other better in the last few weeks, “that we are coming together more and more, that we understand each other more. The boys are also opening up more, and you can see that on the pitch.”
Visiting coach sees deserved defeat
Eintracht sports director Markus Krösche was also very satisfied: “The deserved victory is good and is a step forward. The boys did very well,” he praised. Head coach Dino Toppmöller was just as happy: “The boys are investing an incredible amount, I’m really proud of the team,” he said, referring to the high level of stress after the bitter 1:2 at PAOK Saloniki in the Conference League.
The guests also praised Frankfurt’s performance: “In the end, of course, a deserved defeat or, in other words: a deserved victory for Eintracht,” said Heidenheim’s coach Frank Schmidt. “Eintracht had more chances, Eintracht was the stronger team in duels,” added Schmidt.
New signing Hugo Larsson (39th minute) with his first Bundesliga goal and Ansgar Knauff (72nd) caused the Hessians to celebrate on Sunday evening in front of 55,800 spectators, for whom Jessic Ngankam (30th) even missed a penalty. The newcomer from Heidenheim, still winless away from home, remains tenth in the table with seven points.
Little offensive power
At first the action took place between the penalty areas – until the overall more powerful Eintracht had the first brilliant idea. Aurelio Buta fed Marmoush, who had a free path and could only be stopped illegally by Heidenheim’s goalkeeper Kevin Müller. However, Ngankam hammered the resulting penalty into the Frankfurt evening sky. “We’re lucky that he shoots it over,” said Müller, but also said: “From then on we lost the thread a bit.”
The Hessians dealt with the mishap well and now played forward with more determination. Larsson’s lead was therefore deserved. The 19-year-old Swede scored with a well-placed low shot from around 22 meters.
After the change, the guests became a little more courageous, but were unable to create any major opportunities. Frankfurt stood securely on defense, but initially missed the move to the goal. It wasn’t until 20 minutes before the end that things became dangerous in front of the visitors’ goal. After a great combination over several stations, Ellyes Skhiri was completely free to finish, but put the ball just wide of the post.
Only 120 seconds later, Eintracht celebrated when substitute Knauff finished off a nice preparatory work from Buta to make it 2-0. “It was a very important goal for me, also for the head,” commented Knauff, adding that he had recently had a difficult phase.
Heidenheim almost came close in return, but national goalkeeper Trapp made a brilliant save against Adrian Beck. “Today it wasn’t just the play that was good, we also fought for the win,” summarized Trapp.
