Eintracht Frankfurt has returned to the race for the international places in the Bundesliga and deservedly defeated 1. FC Heidenheim 2-0 (1-0) on Sunday (October 8th, 2023).
The guests had started the game clearly too passively, especially in the midfield there was too little resistance to Eintracht’s advances. The first moment of shock for the guests came in the 4th minute because referee Daniel Schlager claimed to have recognized a handball by Tim Siersleben. However, the VAR overturned the penalty decision because Siersleben had only touched the ball in the rib area.
Ngankam shoots a penalty into the clouds
As a result, there was still little offensive from the guests, Eintracht put pressure on, but also lacked decisive consistency in the last line. In the 28th minute there was actually a penalty that stood: FCH keeper Kevin Müller had caught Omar Marmoush, who had started free, off his feet and with a lot of luck only received a yellow card. Jessic Ngankam then chased the penalty well over the goal.
The Frankfurt team managed to take the deserved lead before the break. After a blocked solo by Tuta, the rebound rolled to Hugo Larsson, who determinedly shot from the edge of the penalty area and shot it into the left corner.
Kleindienst awards the compensation
In the second round, the Heidenheimers repeatedly broke away from the pressure and had their opportunities, driven by Jan-Niklas Beste. In the 55th minute, Tim Kleindienst, who was becoming increasingly dangerous, had the equalizer on his head after a Beste corner, but missed a free-standing shot.
The penalty came a good quarter of an hour later: Buta again put pressure on the right, then passed again across the goal to Nacho Ferri, who cleverly let the ball roll through his legs. The FCH defense was out of the running and the rushing Ansgar Knauff was able to score the decisive 2-0 into the near corner.
Trapp makes an outstanding save against Beck
Heidenheim held on strongly, but when Kevin Trapp defused Adrian Beck’s great chance with an outstanding reflex (74th), it was clear to the Heidenheim fans that they would have to get their points somewhere else to stay in the league.
In the final quarter of an hour, Eintracht was closer to 3-0 than the guests were – but Müller made a strong save against Ellyes Skhiri (77th), who had already narrowly missed the Heidenheim goalkeeper in the 70th minute.
Eintracht against TSG, Heidenheim welcomes Augsburg
On matchday 8, Eintracht Frankfurt will face Hoffenheim away (Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.). Heidenheim will be challenged a day later in the home game against Augsburg (5:30 p.m.).