RB Leipzig neglected a very important victory in the race for the Champions League places. The Bundesliga runners-up only drew 0-0 against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday despite the best chances to score.
With 45 points, the Saxons jumped back to a premier class rank, but the team of coach Domenico Tedesco could have pulled away even more with a three-pointer.
Since SC Freiburg (0-0 at SpVgg Greuther Fürth) and TSG Hoffenheim (0-3 at Hertha BSC) were down on Saturday, Leipzig had the great opportunity to distance their direct competition a bit. Freiburg (45 points) and Hoffenheim (44 points) are still within striking distance. Meanwhile, Frankfurt, now on 38 points, failed to get close to the international places.
In the Red Bull Arena, the visiting fans initially caused a stir. Some of them had lit smoke pots and fogged the stadium, causing the game to stand still for a few minutes shortly after kick-off. After that, the 43,058 spectators, the highest since the beginning of November, saw a duel that started out cautiously, in which Leipzig recorded the first deal.
Christopher Nkunku (9′) was cleared heavily by Dani Olmo but his deflected shot went over. But Frankfurt, where only Sebastian Rode was a newcomer, fought well against Betis Sevilla (1-1) three days after the extension thriller in the round of 16 second leg of the Europa League. Again and again they looked for gaps in possession and lurked for opponents’ mistakes, but without radiating any real danger.
Eintracht Frankfurt with aluminum luck
RB, who had international free because of the exclusion of round of 16 opponent Spartak Moscow, did this better in the course of the first round. Just like that, Eintracht defender Martin Hinteregger cleared a header from former Frankfurter André Silva (22nd) on the line, four minutes later national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp deflected a long-range shot from Mohamed Simakan to the post.
Konrad Laimer (41st) also failed from around 20 meters on the crossbar. A half-time lead would have been deserved, but an Nkunku goal (45+2) after a counterattack didn’t count because of an offside position.
Immediately after the break, Leipzig continued the performance from the end of the first section and pushed into the last third with speed – but there was a lack of accuracy. After a great combination via Olmo and Benjamin Henrichs, Nkunku (53rd) didn’t get the ball properly processed, so Trapp had no problems.
Ten minutes later, the Frankfurt goalkeeper held strong against Laimer, who ran towards the goalkeeper completely alone from a switching movement. Yussuf Poulsen had already outplayed Trapp, but didn’t put the ball in the goal either (82′).