After their European Cup victories during the week, Eintracht Frankfurt and SC Freiburg had to settle for a draw when they met in the Bundesliga.
At least Freiburg’s Lucas Höler was able to gain something positive from the game. “We finally kept a clean sheet,” he said in the Sportschau interview after the game. In a mediocre game, the fans had previously seen a 0-0 draw in the Frankfurt Arena on Sunday (September 24th, 2023). With seven points from five games, Frankfurt (8th place) and Freiburg (9th place) remain in the middle of the table.
Freiburg put the first exclamation mark with a header from Ritsu Doan from ten meters. But Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp directed the ball past the post (5th minute). Overall, Frankfurt had a bit more to offer offensively. After nine minutes, Buta was released on the right and moved into the penalty area in a running duel with Freiburg’s Lukas Kübler. The following contact in the penalty area wasn’t enough for referee Felix Zwayer to give a penalty.
Freiburg’s Atubolu parries against Frankfurt’s Marmoush
As a result, the Hessians dictated the game primarily from their strong center with Ellyes Skhiri and Hugo Larsson. But opportunities remained in short supply. Until the break, Eintracht did not make more use of their field superiority. 17 seconds after the restart, Omar Marmoush had the lead. But SC keeper Noah Atubolu wiped the angled shot from half-right past the post.
Substitute Jessic Ngankam (69′) clearly missed a shot from 16 meters while standing alone. Frankfurt lacked the decisive punch towards the goal. Freiburg, which was generally deep but defensively stable, rarely got beyond good approaches towards the Frankfurt goal. Coach Dino Toppmöller also saw it that way in the Sportschau interview. “We simply have to become more dangerous in terms of goals,” he said after Frankfurt’s fourth draw in the fifth game. Four goals – only 1. FC Köln and 1. FSV Mainz 05 from the bottom of the table have as few as the Hessians.
The hosts also had a bit of luck in the final phase when Robin Koch’s swipe into the face of his Freiburg opponent Junior Adamu was not punished with a dismissal (85th). Nothing more happened towards the goal, so the draw was the logical consequence.
Eintracht in Wolfsburg, Freiburg welcomes Augsburg
Frankfurt will be visiting VfL Wolfsburg on the next Bundesliga matchday (Saturday, September 30, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.). The Breisgauer team will play against Augsburg in front of their home fans (Sunday, 5:30 p.m.).