Draw in the Hesse derby: Darmstadt gets a last-minute point against Frankfurt

SV Darmstadt 98 scored a point in the Hessen derby in the Bundesliga thanks to an injury-time goal against Eintracht Frankfurt. After a long lead, the SGE carelessly gambled away the victory. On Saturday (January 20th, 2024) the “Lilien” retained one point at home with a score of 2:2 (0:1).

Meanwhile, Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller’s team had to admit to having squandered their third Bundesliga win in a row after a long lead.

Kellerkind Darmstadt as a stumbling block for Eintracht

For Darmstadt, the first ever draw between the two clubs was an important sign of life in the basement. With eleven points, Torsten Lieberknecht’s team remains bottom of the table only because of the poorer goal difference, Julian Justvan (61st) and Christoph Klarer (90th + 5) led the much-celebrated comeback.

Even though Darmstadt’s coach Torsten Lieberknecht would have liked to keep three points, he was impressed by the encounter on the ARD microphone: “If the derby goes like this and everything stays calm around it, then you can say it was a nice day for Hesse.”

Nevertheless, Darmstadt’s negative balance grew to eleven league games in a row without a win. Niels Nkounkou (31st) and Ansgar Knauff (51st) put Eintracht in the lead. Frankfurt now unexpectedly has to let the top group go a bit.

Frankfurt is not capitalizing on better gaming facilities

Full-back Nkounkou had the first chances, but he was denied twice by Darmstadt goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen (3rd and 14th). With an unchanged starting line-up, Eintracht generally showed a somewhat more mature playing system, but were otherwise only able to capitalize little on this. The Lilies, who competed in a special jersey to strengthen themselves against bladder cancer, held up well with energetic duels.

However, there was no progress in the sub-zero temperatures, and Justvan, who had only been signed the day before by league rivals TSG Hoffenheim, was unable to provide any impetus. There was one bad pass after another, increasingly at Eintracht. Nkounkou’s lead came practically out of nowhere after strong work from Dina Junior Ebimbe down the right side. Knauff missed the early preliminary decision (39th) after a dream pass from Sasa Kalajdzic.

Darmstadt System conversion brings in momentum

Shortly after the substitution, he did better and pushed Kalajdzic’s unsuccessful shot over the line from close range. On the other side, Luca Pfeiffer almost responded quickly (53′), but Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp saved with strong foot defense.

A system change gave Darmstadt’s offensive efforts a little more momentum. Justvan’s goal with a low shot from ten meters raised the hosts’ hopes of at least one more point, which Klarer’s late goal secured against an increasingly lethargic Frankfurt team.

“We’ve lost a bit of activity,” analyzed Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmöller on the ARD microphone. “In the end you have to say, compliments to Darmstadt for how they came back, and we have to take it upon ourselves that we didn’t win here.”

Eintracht against Mainz, lilies at Union

The Frankfurters open the 19th matchday against Mainz (Friday, January 26th, 2023 at 8:30 p.m.). The Lilies travel to Berlin on Sunday (3:30 p.m.).