Wenn es sich beim Fußballgeschäft um eine Wünsch-dir-was-Show handeln würde, hätten sie bei der Frankfurter Eintracht liebend gerne ihr Veto gegen die jüngste Unterbrechung im Bundesliga-Unterhaltungsprogramm eingelegt.
Die Mannschaft, die beim 3:3 gegen den FC Bayern München weiter an Selbstvertrauen zugelegt hatte, präsentierte sich schließlich in ausgesprochen konkurrenzfähiger Verfassung, so dass ihr Trainer seine Arbeit am liebsten unter dem günstigen Einfluss der vorangegangenen Augenblicke fortgesetzt hätte.
Doch das konnte er wegen der Länderspiel-Termine nicht, und zu allem Überfluss aus Sicht Dino Toppmöllers erkrankten dann während ihrer Unternehmungen mit den Nationalteams mit Ansgar Knauff und Mo Dahoud zwei Spieler, die ihm in Leverkusen nicht für die Startelf zur Verfügung standen.
Viel VAR-Trubel
Für die Hessen brachte die Wiederaufnahme des Alltagsbetriebs nach zweiwöchiger Pause in Leverkusen eine Enttäuschung. Im Duell mit dem Double-Sieger unterlagen die Frankfurter 1:2, es war die zweite Niederlage in der noch jungen Saison. „Wir sind sehr enttäuscht, aber stolz auf die Leistung“, lautete das Fazit Toppmöllers.
In 78 Duellen zwischen beiden Vereinen, die es bis zu diesem Wochenende gegeben hatte, war es noch nie zu einem 0:0 gekommen. Keine andere Bundesliga-Paarung, damit hatte die Deutsche Fußball Liga vorab in einer Mitteilung Erwartungen an das neuerliche Aufeinandertreffen geweckt, fand so oft torreich statt. Dass es auch diesmal ereignisreich weitergehen würde, zeichnete sich früh ab.
In der 5. Minute ertönte der erste Strafstoßpfiff, nachdem der Leverkusener Amine Adli in einem Zweikampf mit Dina Ebimbe im Strafraum zu Fall gekommen war. Es benötigte drei Minuten, ehe Schiedsrichter Felix Brych auf Intervention des VAR seine Entscheidung überprüft hatte, und an ihr nach dem Betrachten der TV-Bilder am Seitenrand festhielt.
But Victor Boniface missed the opportunity – his shot was so out of place and taken with little courage that he turned out to be Kevin Trapp’s sure prey. The Eintracht goalkeeper, who had been sidelined since mid-September due to a thigh injury, courageously grabbed hold of the ball when he returned.
The second screen control, which Brych subsequently decided to use, only lasted around sixty seconds after Robert Andrich had brought down Omar Marmoush with a kick in the feet on the other side. The fouled Egyptian, who has been one of the driving forces at Eintracht for weeks, took the opportunity to extend his goal tally to nine league goals with a well-placed low shot past Lukas Hradecky (15th minute).
A few moments passed before the Leverkusen team, for whom Florian Wirtz only sat on the bench until the 63rd minute after his capsule injury from the international match against the Netherlands, recovered from this moment of shock and fought back in the style of the best master art: with a snap -Combination in a small space, Adli and Martin Terrier broke up the Frankfurt defensive chain, with Andrich, the beneficiary of this remarkable action, equalizing to make it 1-1 (25th).
Boniface as a laughing third party
There wasn’t much missing shortly after the break and Boniface would have put Leverkusen in the lead straight away, but after Terrier’s cross, the Nigerian came a step too late to get the ball past Trapp precisely (49′). A shot from Andrich also landed on the post (63′), while Wirtz, who came on for Terrier, forced Trapp to intervene from close range (67′) – and slowly but surely it became apparent that Bayer were attacking with speed and constant position changes caused unrest, would gain the upper hand.
But there was also Frankfurt’s help in the game, which paved the way for Leverkusen’s fortune. Trapp tried to clear a Wirtz cross in an unorthodox manner with his foot, which was unsuccessful and he also irritated his front man Rasmus Kristensen so much that Boniface was there as a laughing third with a header to make it 2-1 (71′).
They confirmed that the Frankfurters did not admit defeat with a courageous final offensive. But in the last controversial scene in injury time of this encounter, Brych ruled against them. Hradecky shot Tah while trying to clear the ball, whereupon the ball flew in a high arc into the penalty area.
While trying to equalize with his head, Hugo Ekitiké, who had risen into the air, was pushed in the back by Tah three meters from the goal line and thrown off balance – but the German international’s clumsy entry wasn’t enough for the referee to whistle another penalty. What Markus Krösche, Eintracht’s sports director, described as a major mistake. Brych at least had to “take another look” at what was happening. Eintracht’s sports director summarized the sale of the two varied halves as “extremely annoying”: “We shouldn’t have lost here.”
Toppmöller spoke of a “very good Bundesliga game”. Unfortunately, not everyone involved on the pitch showed a corresponding performance, he openly expressed his criticism of Brych. “That was a clear penalty. If he doesn’t check that, we don’t need the VAR.”
Xabi Alonso, the Leverkusen coach, sounded much more satisfied with his conclusion – for understandable reasons. The Spaniard said that Tah had behaved “very intelligently” in the defensive action and that it was right that the referee did not intervene because there was no “clear” wrongdoing. “We showed mentality,” added Alonso, “it was important that the three points stayed with us at home today.” With this success, Leverkusen (14 points) overtook Eintracht (14) and are now directly ahead of those who lost on Saturday fourth place in the table.
