Eintracht Frankfurt had a poor dress rehearsal for the premier class against VfB Stuttgart, who were in danger of being relegated.
Four days before the round of 16 second leg at SSC Naples, coach Oliver Glasner’s team had to settle for a disappointing 1-1 (0-0) in a duel with the away weak Swabians and missed the fifth home win in a row.
Although the Hessians took the lead through captain Sebastian Rode (55th), substitute Silas (75th) equalized for the Swabians – a significant increase is needed in Naples. Coach Bruno Labbadia’s team from Stuttgart, on the other hand, was able to celebrate an unexpected point, although the wait for their first away win continues.
Frankfurt started with Rafael Borre and Djibril Sow instead of Jesper Lindström (ankle injury) and Daichi Kamada compared to the game in Wolfsburg (2-2). Labbadia made three changes after the decent performance against Bayern Munich (1: 2): Tiago Tomas, Juan Perea and Borna Sosa after a yellow card suspension moved into the team.
In the 100th meeting of the two clubs in the Bundesliga, which was initially characterized by bad passes and duels in midfield, Stuttgart made a slightly better impression. However, VfB lacked accuracy in several promising switching actions. Only Konstantinos Mavropanos (34th), who should be the focus of Eintracht, and Perea (42nd) reported dangerously in front of the goal.
The Hessians, on the other hand, who want to catch up 0: 2 in Naples on Wednesday (9:00 p.m. / DAZN), acted much too sluggishly before the break. In the attacking game, the offensive around Randal Kolo Muani, Mario Götze and Co. hardly came up with anything, deals remained scarce in front of 50,000 fans.
Labbadia substitutes the equalizer
Glasner probably found the right words during the break. Frankfurt started the second half much more energetically and struck immediately. Djibril Sow’s shot was initially blocked, but on the second try Rode skillfully put the ball into the far corner – and gave the Hessians fresh self-confidence.
Labbadia reacted to his team’s weak start after the change of sides and brought in Chris Führich and Silas, among others, for more offensive power, who used a counterattack almost out of nowhere to equalize about ten minutes after being substituted on. Enzo Millot (79th) just missed the lead a little later.