Worries about keeper Santos
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Overshadowed by an injury to goalkeeper Kauã Santos, Eintracht Frankfurt celebrated an important victory in the race for European Cup qualification. Coach Albert Riera’s team defeated SC Freiburg at home 2-0 (0-0), but are now worried about their Brazilian keeper’s knee.
The match winner was Farès Chaïbi, who scored 1-0 a few seconds after coming on in the 64th minute. In the final phase, Jean-Mattéo Bahoya scored the final goal with a fine flick after an assist from Chaïbi (81′). Thanks to their well-deserved home win, Frankfurt pushed Freiburg out of seventh place in the Bundesliga on matchday 24.
If the DFB Cup winner ends up among the top six teams in the Bundesliga or Germany secures a fifth place in the Champions League via the UEFA rankings, seventh place would at least mean qualification for the Conference League. Should both happen, seventh place would mean participation in the Europa League.
Burkardt with starting eleven comeback at Eintracht Frankfurt
Frankfurt attacker Jonathan Burkardt made his first start against Freiburg since November 26th last year, when he injured his calf in the 3-0 defeat to Atalanta Bergamo in the Champions League.
On the other side, ex-Frankfurt player Igor Matanovic, who was under contract with Eintracht from 2023 to 2025, stormed. After an unhappy time in the Main metropolis, he moved to Breisgau last summer.
After 17 seconds, the focus was on Matanovic when he came too late in a duel against Kauã Santos. The keeper unfortunately injured his right knee and had to be substituted after treatment to applause from the Eintracht fans. Michael Zetterer, who had already replaced Kauã Santos as number one this season, came into the game to replace him. Santos, who tore a cruciate ligament in his right knee last year, is in danger of being out for a long time.
After the injury shock, both teams initially felt each other out. Things first became really dangerous in the 24th minute, when Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu was only able to parry a powerful long-range shot from Nathaniel Brown. When Burkardt rebounded, Atubolu made a brilliant save.
Eintracht remained in control in front of 59,000 spectators and became particularly dangerous on the right offensive side with Brown and Arnaud Kalimuendo. However, the Frenchman failed again with a shot from a promising position to Atubolu (29th).
There was no sign of Freiburg offensively for a long time. Shortly before the break, Matanovic hit the post with a header from a cross from Christian Günter (45th+2). It was the guests’ first and only chance in the first half.
After the break the game remained competitive. The guests had the first opportunity, but Zetterer fended off a strong shot from Vincenzo Grifo (49th). Otherwise, both teams kept getting bogged down in their offensive actions.
That changed shortly after Chaïbi was substituted for Oscar Højlund. The Algerian international made it 1-0 with a well-placed shot. This was preceded by a bad pass from Freiburg’s Matthias Ginter. Bahoya made the decision in the final phase.
