SGE goes under without a chance
©IMAGO
With an offensive spectacle, RB Leipzig impressively defended second place in the Bundesliga. Bayern’s worst pursuer won the top game against Eintracht Frankfurt 6-0 (2-0). Conrad Harder (5th minute) and Christoph Baumgartner (31st) gave Leipzig an early lead in front of 47,012 spectators in the Red Bull Arena. Yan Diomande (47th/55th/65th) increased the score with a hat-trick. David Raum (62nd) also scored from the penalty spot.
It was the sixth home win in a row for the Saxons, who were still undefeated at home. Only Bayern, along with RB, are still unbeaten at home. Eintracht, on the other hand, suffered their first defeat after six unbeaten league games. The previous week, the Hessians had already lost 3-0 in the Champions League against Atalanta Bergamo and only played 1-1 against Wolfsburg. The SGE remains in seventh place in the Bundesliga table.
The Belgian Michy Batshuayi celebrated his starting eleven debut after recently impressing as a joker in the Eintracht attack against Wolfsburg. After the absences of Jonathan Burkardt (muscle injury) and Ansgar Knauff (cold), Hugo Larsson and Can Uzun were back in the Hessen matchday squad for the first time since their muscle injuries, where coach Dino Toppmöller rotated Nnamdi Collins and Mahmoud Dahoud into the starting eleven.
Ole Werner also made three changes compared to the cup. Kosta Nedeljkovic was preferred in the back four, Xaver Schlager started for Ezechiel Banzuzi, while the regular switch back to Peter Gulacsi was made in goal.
After 28 seconds, Eintracht had their first chance. But RB goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi parried Fares Chaibi’s harmless ball from 15 meters. Conrad Harder (5th) did better on the other side. The physically robust Dane headed Christoph Baumgartner’s soulful lob from a half-right position at full speed over Eintracht keeper Michael Zetterer to take the lead and scored his first goal in the RB jersey in the 15th game. Arthur Theate then made a very narrow save from Harder after a cross from space (15′) and thus prevented the score being 0-2.
Eintracht then failed to equalize. Batshuayi (20th) received the pass five meters in front of the goal, but the ball unfortunately went straight between his legs. Then Mahmoud Dahoud slammed the ball directly onto the crossbar from 18 meters. RB countered and scored practically in return thanks to Baumgartner (31st), who only had to push a cross from Harder over the line. Then the Austrian was there again: But his goal to make it 3-0 (39th) was taken back by the VAR assistant.
After the change, RB went one better in terms of effectiveness. Antonio Nusa dribbled into the penalty area and was fouled. When the whistle was missed, he immediately got up and passed the ball to “Mask Man” Diomande, who hammered the ball into the goal with full force from 13 meters (47′). Then the inside post saved Frankfurt after Nusa (52′) shot the ball from the left-hand position from the edge of the penalty area. Diomande made it more precise from the middle position and scored from 16 meters to make it 4-0 (55th).
Frankfurt was only able to clear half-heartedly after a corner, and Larsson blocked Schlager’s attempted shot with his arm. Raum safely converted the following penalty (62′). Diomande completed his hat trick three minutes later when he rounded Zetterer and slotted the ball safely into an empty net to make it 6-0.