Eintracht Frankfurt defied the rigors of travel and also scored points at Werder Bremen with a show of strength.
The Hessians won a valuable 2:2 (0:1) in the Weserstadion after a 0:2 deficit and are still on course for Europe in seventh place. Werder remains twelfth.
Ellyes Skhiri (65th) and Hrvoje Smolcic (75th) ensured Eintracht’s successful comeback, which has now been unbeaten in eight competitive games in a row. New national player Marvin Ducksch with a penalty kick (45th + 2) and Rafael Borre, on loan from Frankfurt (50th), initially put Werder in the lead.
Eintracht still had reserves after the break despite the recent tight program: For coach Dino Toppmöller’s team, it was the fourth away game in eleven days after victories at Viktoria Köln, Union Berlin and HJK Helsinki. And that’s not all: two of the next three games will take place away from home.
“The trips and games take energy”
“The trips and games take energy,” SGE coach Toppmöller said before kick-off. In fact, his team started hesitantly and waiting, but Werder did little to entertain the 42,100 fans. The result was an encounter characterized by duels instead of goal chances. A direct pass from Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush (19th) was the only dangerous situation of the first half hour.
Werder slowly got better into the game with the Ducksch/Borre duo, Leonardo Bittencourt narrowly missed the goal from distance (35th). After Ansgar Knauff impetuously stopped Bremen’s Jens Stage in the penalty area in stoppage time, Ducksch safely converted the penalty.
Double strike gives Eintracht Frankfurt a point
Mario Götze came onto the field in the second half, Toppmöller had rotated heavily compared to the 1-0 win in the Conference League against Helsinki.
Werder coach Werner, on the other hand, sent an unchanged team onto the pitch – and was rewarded: Borre, who was brought in in September as a replacement for Niclas Füllkrug, added a header.
Frankfurt now pushed for the connection, but initially failed miserably: Knauff shot well over the goal from just eight meters, completely free-standing (55th).
Skhiri did better, hitting with great force from 18 meters. And that’s not all: Smolcic managed to equalize with his head, and in the exciting final phase Eintracht even came close to the third goal.