Did you know that Eintracht Bayern’s first pursuer after beating Schalke
Eintracht Frankfurt jumped to second place in the table on the 16th match day of the Bundesliga . Coach Oliver Glasner’s team ended the two-month winter and World Cup break on Saturday with a 3-0 (1-0) home win against FC Schalke 04.
Because SC Freiburg lost 6-0 at VfL Wolfsburg at the same time, the Hessians are now the first pursuers from leaders Bayern Munich (1-1 on Friday in Leipzig). Jesper Lindström (22nd minute), Rafael Borré (84th), and Aurélio Buta (90+1) secured the win against Schalke, who were threatened with relegation, with their goals.
Eintracht was initially no better than Schalke
Remarkable: Eintracht was not the better team at the time of the 1-0 – as for long stretches of the first half. The bottom of the table from the Ruhr area woke up visibly motivated from hibernation and had more than 55 percent possession of the ball in the first quarter of an hour. With their snappy duel behavior, the guests made it difficult for the Champions League round of 16.
A goal would have been well deserved for S04 in the first round, but Eintracht had two aluminum luck on their side – and Kevin Trapp in goal. Simon Terodde’s headed the keeper just about steered the ball to the outside of the post (28′), four minutes later Soichiro Kozuki’s shot hit the post. With luck and skill, the national substitute goalkeeper kept his box clean in the 250th Bundesliga game.
Frankfurt counters, and Lindstrom scores
At this point, the Frankfurters were already 1-0 in the lead because they used their best chance of the first half and brought a counterattack down the right side quickly and cleanly to the finish line. Or rather: Lindström brought him to the finish. The Dane was sent on his way by Randal Kolo Muani, shook off S04 defender Henning Matriciani after a solo run, and shot the ball halfway into the far corner (22′).
A reassuring tour for the hosts? Definitely not. Because even after the change of sides, FC Schalke did not present themselves as a fearful relegation candidate, but as a rebellious and sometimes strong away team. The Royal Blues should have used at least one of the good header chances from Kozuki (46′) or Terodde (54′).
Ebimbe keeps showing up
The game then flattened out a bit, because Eintracht didn’t invest more in offensive action than necessary. Junior Dina Ebimbe, who had shown himself conspicuously often in and around the Schalke penalty area during the first half, recorded the first of a few Frankfurt opportunities in the 51st minute. Substitute Borré scored the second (83′), and Substitute Buta made it 3-0 shortly before the final whistle (90′ + 1′).
Despite Schalke’s courage: In the first Bundesliga game of the new year, the Hessians secured their first win – and an almost historic sense of achievement. The last time the Adlerträger were in second place was after the eighth matchday of the 2012/13 season – around ten years ago.