Leverkusen (dpa) – Eintracht Frankfurt suffered another defeat before the decisive game for the finals in the Europa League in the Bundesliga.
The Hessians, who made eight changes at the start of the game, lost 2-0 (1-0) to Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Monday evening. Paulinho scored the goals in the 32nd matchday game in the 18th minute and Patrik Schick (51st). With their win, the hosts consolidated third place in the table and are thus on course for the Champions League in the coming season. The “game of the games” (coach Oliver Glasner) is coming up for Frankfurt this Thursday at home against West Ham United. Eintracht won the semi-final first leg 2-1 in London.
In addition, for Frankfurt, for which the league is no longer about anything, there was nothing to get in Leverkusen in the past few years, even with the best line-up. This was the seventh defeat in a row at the BayArena with an unbelievable 2:25 goals. For Bayer, the safe participation in the European Cup, which was already certain at the start of the weekend due to the results, is only a stopover.
The Frankfurters didn’t really seem unmotivated for the supposedly annoying stopover between the two West Ham games. Apparently the final tension was missing. The weakened Leverkusen team allowed the Hessians to play along and waited for counterattacks with their fast players. And one of the first led to success. Moussa Diaby, who was as fast as an arrow, pulled away, served Paulinho with an outside instep pass and the Brazilian, who had been successful last week, scored his fourth goal of the season through Kevin Trapp’s legs. Schick also scored in the 34th minute, but had previously been offside.
The Frankfurters hardly came dangerously in front of the goal. Goncalo Paciencia’s first shot on goal came in the 38th minute and was completely harmless, while Jens Petter Hauge’s was only slightly more dangerous despite a good position (42′). Coach Oliver Glasner saved more energy at the break and made three changes. Tuta and Filip Kostic were the only two outfield players left in the starting XI compared to the game in London.
The goal after the break scored again Bayer. Schick’s jubilation was initially interrupted by referee Benjamin Cortus for offside. However, video evidence showed that the Czech had not been offside by millimeters. The ball went through Trapp’s legs again, and Diaby provided the assist again; it was his eleventh of the current season.