What would Eintracht be without Omar Marmoush? At the reunion against his former club, it was the Egyptian who, thanks to a show of strength, scored the final 2-2 in the second minute of the eleven-minute stoppage time. Frankfurt Eintracht had been behind twice against VfL Wolfsburg. She managed to get back in touch twice.
Philipp Max, the goalscorer to make it 1-1, said after the draw against Lower Saxony that “we wanted to show such a passionate performance. Everyone on the pitch threw themselves into it.” The left wing player, who was called up from the start, signaled great satisfaction after winning the point. “I’m proud of the team.”
Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller also found it “simply unbelievable that the boys showed morale at the back and came back”. He spoke of a “point of morality. Morale is intact. The troops are alive. It’s good to see that.” VfL coach Niko Kovac spoke of a “correct, deserved result” after the 2-2 draw, with which Eintracht maintained sixth place in the table on the 23rd Bundesliga matchday.
After the bitter defeat in the Conference League against Royale Union St. Gilloise, Toppmöller announced “more heart instead of head” and started the rotation machine for the last remaining competition. Ellyes Skhiri and Mario Götze? Out of the starting eleven. For Donny van de Beek, this was also the chance to assert himself again from the start. Max also got playing time again. Niels Nkounkou took a seat on the bench to replace the winger.
Hugo Ekitiké was also there from the start for the first time. The stormy Frenchman, who came to Frankfurt from Paris for a club record fee of around 20 million euros, should take care of invigorating moments on the offensive together with Marmoush. In the past few games, Ekitiké had not made more than short appearances. When the game started against the “Wolves”, who had recently been tame in the Bundesliga, Ekitiké appeared to be in a good mood.
First, however, he also had to watch and process how VfL managed to strike so quickly and so efficiently. With the first attack, Wolfsburg took the lead. Captain Maximilian Arnold first tried a left-footed shot that bounced back off the right post. In the scene that immediately followed, Jonas Wind crossed – and Maxence Lacroix was free enough to head the ball to make it 0-1. The video assistant in the Cologne basement was called in to check whether there was a handball in the goal. But that wasn’t it. What a start, what a blackout for unity. “We want to see you fight,” the fans shouted.