Randal Kolo Muani experienced the last minutes of his big cup evening as a substitute on the bench, after the final whistle the match winner from Eintracht Frankfurt high-fived his teammates with a grin.
Thanks to the two goals from the French vice world champion, the Hessians can dream of their first DFB Cup final since the title night in 2018. The Europa League winner won the first quarter-finals on Tuesday against Bundesliga third-placed 1. FC Union Berlin 2-0 (2-0).
Kolo Muani made the early decision in front of 49,500 spectators with two goals (11th minute/13th) – each after submission by Mario Götze. “We have big plans,” said Sebastian Rode on Sky. “The two early goals helped us enormously.” Götze said on ZDF: “We want to get to the final, it’s going so fast.” Coach Oliver Glasner’s Frankfurters will be drawn to the semi-final opponents on Easter Sunday (7 p.m. / ARD).
The Eintracht fans celebrated their first win in seven competitive games and were able to forget the dispute at management level for at least one evening. Union Berlin is forced to focus on the Bundesliga, where qualification for the Champions League is realistic. “For the third time in a row we’re playing a disastrous first half,” said Rani Khedira. “I have no idea why that is. We have to analyze that.”
Glasner greeted Union coach Urs Fischer on the lawn with a warm hug. “One day you’re world champion, a week later you’re nothing at all,” said the Frankfurt coach, who was allegedly being courted by top clubs, on ZDF shortly before kick-off – and his team played absolutely ready for the title in the early stages.
Götze hangs up twice
Rio world champion Götze ingeniously prepared the opening goal of the French vice world champion with a hoe. Kolo Muani had no trouble against Lennart Grill in the Union goal. The 24-year-old goalkeeper again replaced Frederik Rönnow, who was still missing, and 93 seconds after the first goal conceded he favored Eintracht’s second goal when he was far too far in front of his goal and was overtaken by Kolo Muani, who was used again by Götze.
The guests from Berlin, who clearly won against VfB Stuttgart at the weekend (3-0), seemed completely overwhelmed at this stage. The Fischer selection was also lucky that the supposed goal by Rafael Borré did not count because of an offside position (20th). After almost half an hour, Borré only hit the crossbar, Kristijan Jakić shot just wide of the goal from a distance (28th) – the deficit could have been higher for the Berliners early on.
Third goal disallowed
After the denied 3-0, not much happened until the half-time whistle, which was also due to the solid Eintracht defense around veteran Makoto Hasebe. “We are certainly well served with the 2-0,” said Union managing director Oliver Ruhnert at half-time on Sky. In the league, the Köpenickers are on course for the premier class with 51 points, but the second cup semi-final in a row was far away at this point.
In the course of the second half, the Berliners improved, but continued to struggle to create clear scoring chances. Josip Juranovic shot a free kick just over the Frankfurt goal (78′), Jamie Leweling failed at Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp (86′). Apart from that, the Hessians managed the lead cleverly. The cup hit “Berlin, Berlin, we’re going to Berlin” could be heard again and again in the stands. The final in the capital will kick off on June 3rd, the semi-finals on May 2nd and 3rd.
