Borussia and Frankfurt share the points in a hard-fought encounter
On Matchday 33 of the Bundesliga, Borussia drew 1-1 with Eintracht Frankfurt in their final home game of the season. Eric Dina Ebimbe cancelled out Robin Hack’s early opener.
In front of 54,042 spectators at a sold-out BORUSSIA-PARK, there were emotional scenes before kick-off as Patrick Herrmann and Tony Jantschke were given an official farewell from Borussia’s presidential board and management team.
The game began in perfect fashion for the Foals. Jonas Omlin played a long ball to Joe Scally, who fed Robin Hack. The Borussia forward then calmly slotted home his tenth goal of the season in the ninth minute. Eintracht then immediately piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser, but were unable to threaten Omlin’s goal for a while. After Borussia missed the chance for a second after a quick counter-attack, the visitors hit back. Eric Dina Ebimbe made it 1-1 in the 36th minute.
Frankfurt began the second period as the more dangerous side. Borussia stood firm and came back into the game afterwards. Čvančara started well after coming off the bench and almost made it 2-1 with a curling effort. The match then became a hard-fought encounter, in which Frankfurt had more of the game but neither side were able to create another clear cut chance. Tony Jantschke and Patrick Herrmann both came on in the final phases and were able to say goodbye to the fans on the pitch.
TEAM NEWS
Head coach Gerardo Seoane made just one change to his team from the 2-2 draw at SV Werder Bremen. Jonas Omlin, who was on the bench last week as he had been unable to train fully, returned in goal ahead of Moritz Nicolas. Marvin Friedrich, Ko Itakura and Nico Elvedi made up the back three with Franck Honorat and Joe Scally as wing-backs. Julian Weigl, Rocco Reitz and Manu Koné started in midfield, while Alassane Plea and Robin Hack were up front.
Max Wöber (minor muscle strain), Grant-Leon Ranos (foot injury), Simon Walde (high ankle sprain), Chris Kramer (recovery training) and Shio Fukuda (ankle injury) were unavailable. Chris Kramer was also missing, as he is still building up his fitness in training after illness.
FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS
9’: Hack makes it 1-0! Omlin plays a perfectly-placed long ball out to Scally on the left. He beats the Frankfurt defender for pace and cuts it back to Hack, who calmly slots into the bottom left corner.
33’: Hack cuts inside from the left and shoots from the edge of the penalty area. His low strike is saved by Trapp in the centre of the goal.
35’: The equaliser for Frankfurt. Dina Ebimbe intercepts Plea’s clearance, drives forward and finishes from around ten yards after playing a one-two with Ekitike.
SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS
50’: Chaibi jumps on a second ball and lets fly powerfully in the penalty area. Itakura gets in a vital block to deflect the ball over.
58’: Čvančara, who has only just come on as a substitute, has space ahead of him to run into and curl a shot towards the bottom corner. It goes wide by a whisker.
90’: Herrmann almost has a chance to score a fairytale goal, but decides on a pass that doesn’t quite come off.
STATISTICS
Borussia: Omlin – Friedrich, Itakura, Elvedi (Jantschke 86’) – Honorat (Netz 58’), Weigl, Scally – Reitz (Neuhaus 89’), Koné – Plea (Čvančara 58’), Hack (Herrmann 89’) // Unused substitutes: Nicolas, Jordan, Lainer, Ngoumou
Frankfurt: Trapp – Tuta, Koch, Pacho – Dina Ebimbe (Buta 62’), Götze, Skhiri (Larsson 76’), Knauff – Marmoush, Chaibi (Nkounkou 76’) – Ekitike (Ferri 90’) // Unused substitutes: Grahl, Smolcic, Max, Chandler, Hasebe
Goals: 1-0 Hack (9’), 1-1 Dina Ebimbe (36’)
Yellow cards: Itakura
Attendance: 54,042 (sold-out)
Referee: Robert Schröder (Hanover)
