Eintracht Frankfurt took three points from RB Leipzig and is increasingly becoming a candidate for the starting places in Europe in the Bundesliga. The match winner was Frankfurt’s right attacker Ansgar Knauff. The Hessians won 1-0 (1-0) at RB on Saturday (January 13th, 2024).
Ansgar Knauff scored very early in the game (7th minute) for the guests, who moved up to fifth place in the table with the success.
Philipp Weiskirch, Sportschau, January 13, 2024 6:22 p.m
For Eintracht, who can dream of the premier class, it was the third win in the last four league games with the debut of the new offensive stars Sasa Kalajdzic and Donny van de Beek. Omar Marmoush and Fares Chaibi, who were at the Africa Cup, were on the field from the start.
To the live ticker: Leipzig – Frankfurt arrow right 17th matchday arrow right
Eintracht caught Leipzig off guard
Frankfurt’s goal became apparent when Niels Nkounkou encountered little resistance on his left side and was able to cross halfway into the penalty area unmolested. Once again Leipzig couldn’t get access to the ball, which found its way to Knauff, and he converted from around eight meters.
The hosts gained significantly more of the game, but lacked penetration in the final third. The spectators had the impression early on that Marco Rose’s team had not yet been able to compensate well for the departure of Emil Forsberg and Timo Werner (also Moriba and Carvalho) during the short winter break. A direct pass from Benjamin Šeško was the home team’s only top-class chance to score.
“This is football, in the end goals decide. That sounds banal, but that’s how it is,” said Marco Rose in the Sportschau interview. “We had a lot of chances, but we have to talk about being even more consistent. So we don’t score and Frankfurt got the result with a passionate defensive performance. That’s bitter for us.”
Hard work for Frankfurt, Leipzig oppressively superior
When Frankfurt’s newcomer Saša Kalajdžić sent Nkounkou on again after the break, who this time served Mario Götze, it was almost 2-0 for the guests (57th). But after that almost only Leipzig played.
And Eintracht were lucky to have Kevin Trapp standing between their goalposts. For example, Loïs Openda (65th) and Benjamin Henrichs (71st) were denied by the Frankfurt goalkeeper, and the Hessian defense (Tuta, Koch, Pacho) also did hard work. When Openda put a header to the right of the box in the 87th minute, RB had 14 corners and 24:4 shots to their name, and the scoring chances resulting from the opportunities had reached a value of almost three. But all the numbers didn’t help the Saxons – coach Dino Toppmöller and his players celebrated the hard-fought Eintracht victory.
“I keep saying that statistics aren’t everything. Leipzig had a lot of preponderance, put a lot of pressure on and played for a goal for over 90 minutes. But I have to say that we defended it damn well,” said SGE goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.
Frankfurt in Darmstadt, Leipzig at Bayer
Eintracht will be guests in Darmstadt on the next matchday (Saturday, January 20, 2024 at 3:30 p.m.). Coach Marco Rose’s team will be challenged in the top game against Leverkusen (6.30 p.m.).