Eintracht Frankfurt has taken a huge step towards Europe and has separated direct rivals FC Augsburg by six points. The Hessians won on Friday evening at the start of the 30th Bundesliga matchday after being behind 3:1 (0:1) and thus consolidated sixth place in the table. In front of 57,600 spectators, Fares Chaibi (55th minute), Hugo Ekitiké (61st) and Omar Marmoush (90th + 5) scored the goals for coach Dino Toppmöller’s team. Ruben Vargas (13th) gave Augsburg an early lead.
After an emotional week with the death of club legend Bernd Hölzenbein, Eintracht ended the sporting crisis with four Bundesliga games without a win. Success in the European duel is particularly important in the race for sixth place because Frankfurt still plays against Bayern, Leverkusen and Leipzig in the remaining weeks.
Augsburg had previously won five out of seven games and could have overtaken Eintracht with a win by two goals. If semi-finalist Borussia Dortmund wins the Champions League and only finishes fifth in the league, sixth place could even be enough for participation in the premier class. International participation guarantees sixth place in any case.
“A lot of sadness lies over this club”
The evening began with emotional moments when Eintracht remembered club veteran Hölzenbein before kick-off. “There has been a lot of sadness over this club since Monday. The sadness is particularly great for the people who stand next to me,” said board spokesman Axel Hellmann, who stood on the lawn next to Hölzenbein’s wife Jutta and their two children. A memorial service for the 1974 world champion, who died at the age of 78, will take place in the Frankfurt stadium on Sunday a week from now (4 p.m.).
The Hessians then started courageously and dominated the first few minutes. Omar Marmoush’s deflected shot (11th) was the first chance, but the ball flew just wide of Finn Dahmen’s goal. Shortly afterwards, the in-form guests took Frankfurt’s first mistake mercilessly. Augsburg put left-back Philipp Max under pressure and then only needed two more stops to score the opening goal: Ermedin Demirovic served for Vargas, who finished dryly into the near corner. For Demirovic it was his 25th point scorer this season.
First whistles, then cheers
Eintracht remained offensive, but lacked precision, especially in the final third. The first half was reminiscent of the previous home games against Union (0:0) and Bremen (1:1), when Eintracht also only pressed at times and left too much in front of the goal. At halftime there were clearly audible whistles from the stands.
These were forgotten by the home fans at the latest when Chaibi only had to shoot from an unmarked position after the break following an assist from Dina Ebimbe. Frankfurt now increased the pressure and rewarded themselves with Ekitiké: the loanee from Paris shot to the inside post, from where the ball bounced into the goal. It was the young striker’s first goal in his tenth Bundesliga appearance. Augsburg played offensively to equalize, but it never came. Marmoush made it clear for Frankfurt in stoppage time.