Oliver Glasner was furious, while Marco Rose happily raised his fist to the sky. While Eintracht Frankfurt has probably finally said goodbye to the title race after 1: 2 (0: 2) at RB Leipzig, the Saxons are in a promising lurking position.
After seven attempts without a win, the cup winners managed to win again against Frankfurt and at least jumped to fourth place in the table overnight. “Wins are always important, it also feels good,” said RB coach Rose: “It was important to us that we didn’t win somehow, but earned it with a decent performance.” And the people of Leipzig succeeded in doing that.
Glasner: “It’s bubbling in me too”
Eintracht coach Glasner, on the other hand, was frustrated after a used week. “We have to hold on and say: If we’re not at the upper level for 90 minutes, then it’s not enough,” said the Austrian: “It’s bubbling in me too.” In the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League last Tuesday, there was a bitter mood dampener for the Hessians in the 0: 2 against SSC Napoli.
“We were held up to the mirror this week,” said Glasner honestly. He didn’t want to accept excuses. “We have only ourselves to blame. The preparation was good, the food wasn’t spoiled either.” Now his team has to “roll up their sleeves”. The only positive fact: “What always impresses me is the quality my team shows, how they keep coming back.”
This was also the case after a completely harmless and messed-up first half, where a free kick from Philipp Max (33rd), who curled the ball into the wall, was the only chance to score. Since Eintracht was already behind. Leipzig striker Timo Werner scored an early lead (6th minute) after a pass from Emil Forsberg to the cheers of the 47,069 spectators.
“I think it’s an absolute dream goal,” said the national striker with a smile and added to the stumbling goal: “No, I got the ball played really well by Emil, try to take the ball with me, somehow lose my balance and in the end I just tried to get the ball past Trapp , it’s worked out.” Then Werner played for Forsberg (40th) to make it 2-0.
Eintracht does not use RB errors
In the 23rd minute, Werner could have followed up from 13 meters, but Hrvoje Smolcic literally threw himself into the shot. Then Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp saved against the free Konrad Laimer (24th). The Hessians found the game sluggish and were not present enough in the duels. Although RB made a few dropouts in defensive midfield, Eintracht did not use these mistakes. The lightning-fast Randal Kolo Muani and Jesper Lindström ran over the RB defense several times from the outside, but the decisive pass didn’t arrive. The absence of Mario Götze, who had to pass due to adductor problems, also made itself felt.
After the change, the guests woke up. RB keeper Janis Blaswich was tested for the first time by Lindstrom (51st) and Kolo Muani (52nd). Then Djibril Sow (61′) hammered the ball into the goal from ten meters out before Blaswich prevented the equalizer against Lindström (66′).
“I think the Napoli game was still in the back of our minds. We were a bit sleepy, even when we conceded the first goal. It really shouldn’t happen like that,” said the goalscorer Sow. Sebastian Rode, who has returned to the starting XI, summed things up for Eintracht: “If you lose the one-on-one duels in midfield, they run one-on-one towards our defence. Defending that over 90 minutes is brutally difficult.”
