Ekitiké also meets
© Imago
Unimpressed by the final farewell to top striker Omar Marmoush and the vertebrae for a possible successor, Eintracht Frankfurt took a big step towards round of 16 in the Europa League. The SGE won on the penultimate matchday of the league at home against Ferencvárosi TC 2: 0 (0: 0). The goals for Eintracht scored Can Uzun with a fantastic conclusion from the distance (49th minute) and Hugo Ekitiké (59.).
However, the victory in front of 55,500 spectators was not enough for the premature move into the round of the top 16, since the competition of the Frankfurters did not fail enough. The Hesse can create direct progress in the round of 16 next Thursday (9:00 p.m.) at AS Rome on their own.
For Eintracht, it was the first game after Marmoush’s departure, whose switch to the English champion Manchester City became official on matchday. The clubs did not provide information on the transfer fee, but it is said to be 75 million euros.
“Omar is not there,” said Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller a day before the Europa League game against Budapest. And there is also no successor – not yet. According to media reports, the Hesse with Olympique Marseille is said to have agreed on an alternation from attacker Elye Wahi.
The harmony was not only marmoush against Budapest, but also Toppmöller. The coach was closed because of a red card, had to make do with a grandstand and was represented by assistant coach Jan Fießer.
The grandstandast Toppmöller saw a playfully dominant Frankfurt team from the start, but in the first half lacked the necessary precision. The first really good opportunity had Ekitiké, who conquered the ball deep in the opposing half, but failed at the Budapest goalkeeper Dénes Dibusz (19th).
The guests stayed pale – and had to replace their battered keeper with Ádám Varga in the 33rd minute. This did not change the balance of power on the lawn. But both Rasmus Kristensen (36th) as well as Ansgar Knauff (37th) and Uzun (41.) lacked the accuracy in the end.
That changed after the change of sides: Uzun met with an unsustainable long -range shot. Afterwards, after Kristensen’s cross, Ekitiké first missed the 2-0 (56th), a few minutes later he did better.
In the 69th minute, the Albanian referee Enea Jorgji initially decided on penalty for Eintracht after an alleged handball of Budapest Ibrahim Cissé. According to the video images, the referee took back the decision. Then the Eintracht managed the two-goal lead against harmless guests.