Finally another win! Eintracht Frankfurt ends its series of bankruptcies and moves into the cup final.
The Frankfurt players hugged each other with relief, and coach Oliver Glasner was overwhelmed by happiness. After anxiously waiting for minutes, it was finally clear: Eintracht can still win, move into the cup final and, after the crash in the Bundesliga, can continue to hope for participation in the European Cup.
Referee Daniel Schlager watched Buta’s handball several times in injury time on the monitor and then decided against a penalty – Frankfurt’s hard-fought 3-2 (0-1) win at relegation candidates VfB Stuttgart remained. In the final on June 3rd in Berlin in a duel with defending champions RB Leipzig, Eintracht probably has their last chance to qualify for the Europa League.
“We’ve seen everything. The referee goes out and looks at it – and then a huge lump fell,” Glasner said on “ARD”. “The disappointment is huge,” admitted VfB keeper Fabian Bredlow and said of the controversial scene: “The ball is clearly on the arm.”
A double strike by Evan Ndicka (51st) and Daichi Kamada (55th) as well as a penalty by Randal Kolo Muani (77th) gave the Europa League champion, who initially seemed dispassionate, a place in the ninth final of the DFB Cup. Vice world champion Kolo Muani equaled the club record set by Bum-Kun Cha (1980/1) and Bernd Hölzenbein (1973/74) with his sixth goal in the current competition.
Most recently, and for the fifth time, Frankfurt had won the golden trophy in 2018. For Eintracht, the semi-final victory was only the second in the last twelve competitive games. Tiago Tomas had put the initially much more snappy Stuttgart in the lead (19th). Substitute Enzo Millot (83rd) shortened. In the final phase, Borna Sosa saw yellow-red (86th).
Game starts with delay
Eintracht would take part in the Europa League if they won the cup, as in the 2021/22 season. In the event of a defeat, seventh place could be enough for her to participate in the Conference League playoffs – she is three points apart from VfL Wolfsburg, who are placed there. Stuttgart, on the other hand, can and must concentrate on their main task: staying in the Bundesliga.
The game started with a short delay because Frankfurt supporters torched numerous Bengalos and acrid smoke settled over the stadium. The clouds only slowly disappeared, meanwhile things got straight to the point on the pitch: Mario Götze (4th) and Djibril Sow (5th) at Eintracht and Serhou Guirassy (9th) at VfB both saw yellow cards from referee Schlager after fouls .
Stuttgart had more of the game, was looking for an early goal and used the first chance of the game surprisingly consistently: New national player Josha Vagnoman played smartly in front of DFB team manager Rudi Völler and former national coach Joachim Löw to Tiago Tomas, the Portuguese’s hard shot hit the near corner.
Eintracht Frankfurt comes out of the cabin changed
Frankfurt was only better in the game after half an hour, also increasingly gained the upper hand, but hardly came up with any good deals. The first, albeit harmless, shot on goal came from Daichi Kamada (44′). On the other hand, Silas (35′) and Tiago Tomas (45′ + 2) almost scored the second VfB goal, goalkeeper Kevin Trapp saved both times.
Eintracht then came out of the dressing room transformed and with a clearly recognizable will to win – and they took their chances. Ndicka scored after a skilful pass from Kolo Muani, Kamada was lucky in the penalty area four minutes later against an unfavorable Stuttgart team.
For VfB it was the first defeat in the sixth game under coach Sebastian Hoeneß. The upward trend in the Bundesliga is of course not yet sustainable: in the table, the Swabians, who are in 15th place, are only separated by a point from Schalke 04 in the first direct relegation zone. However, VfB is also going to Berlin: on Saturday he will meet Hertha BSC there in a relegation duel.