A stroke of genius from Götze, but no derby victory: Eintracht Frankfurt said goodbye to a memorable year with a small setback. The team of the hour around DFB returnee Mario Götze had to settle for a 1-1 (0-1) draw at FSV Mainz 05 in the Rhine-Main duel, but still spent the winter in a European Cup place in the Bundesliga.
Randal Kolo Muani (67th) saved Frankfurt at least one point after a spectacular Götze pass after Jonathan Burkardt (40th) had put Mainz in the lead for a long time. Nevertheless, the Hessians missed the eighth success from the past nine competitive games, Götze acted a little more inconspicuously than last.
SGE trainer Oliver Glasner trusted the starting XI, who played furiously against Hoffenheim (4:2) during the week – and thus also the World Cup drivers Götze and Kevin Trapp. After the strong performance, the Eintracht coach in Mainz “would like to add one more thing” to the end.
In a wild initial phase in front of 33,305 fans, the Frankfurters initially came under massive defensive pressure. Only after the Mainz chances by Jonathan Burkardt and Dominik Kohr (9th) did the Europa League winner calm things down a bit – also thanks to clever actions by Götze.
Coach Bo Svensson’s FSV, with four changes compared to the weak performance at Schalke (0:1), immediately followed suit. Defensively, Eintracht did not appear secure against the strong Mainz team, and despite some good approaches, there were no clear shots going forward. As a result, Götze also disappeared a bit.
A lot of things in the FSV game went too fast for the Hessians. Burkardt only punished Frankfurt shortly before the break when he scored a deserved lead from the crowd. National goalkeeper Trapp had made two sensational saves immediately beforehand, and was powerless on the third shot.
Even after the change of sides, the game remained intense – and Mainz once again set the first signs. Burkardt (47th) failed to head the strong Trapp, FSV captain Silvan Widmer (52nd) twisted in front of the goal. It was only thanks to Trapp that the Hessians didn’t fall behind earlier.
Frankfurt fought their way back into the game while Svensson’s side dwindled. Junior Dina Ebimbe (65th) missed the great opportunity to equalize, but after Götze’s flash of inspiration Kolo Muani remained ice cold in front of the goal. Shortly thereafter, Götze (74th) missed the next Frankfurt goal from around 40 meters.