Ice cold at the front, robust at the back: Arminia Bielefeld landed a surprise coup against the European Cup contenders Eintracht Frankfurt in the relegation battle. Coach Frank Kramer’s team confirmed the positive trend with a 2-0 (2-0) win against a disappointing Hessian and conquered 14th place in the Bundesliga, at least temporarily.
Patrick Wimmer (5th) and Alessandro Schöpf (27th) scored for East Westphalia, who are unbeaten in five games and gave Eintracht a severe setback in the fight for Europe. Coach Oliver Glasner’s Frankfurt team failed to win their first win of the new year on the third attempt due to a poor performance.
At Eintracht, driver Filip Kostic and goalkeeper Kevin Trapp were back in the starting XI after their corona infections. Defense boss Martin Hinteregger moved into the team compared to the draw in Augsburg (1:1).
Bielefeld is becoming more and more self-confident
Despite the return of the three important pillars, Frankfurt allowed themselves to be taken by surprise. In front of 1000 fans, the guests struck early and took advantage of the holes in Eintracht’s defense. Wimmer easily pushed the ball past Trapp at the first chance of the game.
Eintracht’s short initial momentum fizzled out completely, while the self-confidence of Kramer’s team grew by the minute. Veteran Gonzalo Castro and Fabian Klos, who was available again after being suspended, saw their team play a strong first half from the bench.
In the duel between the teams with the strongest runs in the league so far, Bielefeld acted snappy, switched at lightning speed and was rewarded for the courageous performance: After Wimmer’s fine Rabona cross, Schöpf let the ball bounce off his chest and into the goal. The clear lead was fine at this point.
Returnee Kostic remains pale in Frankfurt
Kostic remained pale on the left, lacking precision with Eintracht’s few chances. Only Jesper Lindström (16th) and Rafael Borre (35th) caused danger.
Glasner reacted and brought on Makoto Hasebe for the weak Hinteregger. Defensively, Eintracht was less and less challenged after the break, but the offensive line around Kostic still had little to do with it. A finish by the Serb (66th) to the side netting remained the best chance for a long time.
Bielefeld limited themselves to counterattacks with the lead behind them, and Arminia tried to relieve the pressure with Klos and Castro coming on as substitutes. Florian Krüger (67th) tested SBU keeper Trapp from a good position, Wimmer (72nd) missed the third goal with a lob.