Frankfurt snatch late home draw against Wolfsburg amid slight protest delays
Winless streaks for both VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt continue on following a 2-2 draw at Deutsche Bank Park on Sunday afternoon.
An entertaining fixture that did feature a brief revival of protests seen in German football over the past few weeks will nevertheless not prove wholly satisfactory to either side.
Dino Toppmöller's Eintracht Frankfurt were able to salvage a draw against visiting Wolfsburg at the Deutsche Bank Park on Sunday afternoon. The hosting Hessen club twice fell behind against the northern Autostädter, yet were able to claw back goals on both occasions. Both sides will take positives from the result, but Frankfurt (winless in six) Wolfsburg (winless in seven) also must start to find a way to start winning matches.
An entertaining fixture that did feature a brief revival of protests seen in German football over the past few weeks will nevertheless not prove wholly satisfactory to either side.
SGE trainer Toppmöller made four changes to the XI that bowed out of Europe on Thursday. Philipp Max, Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe, and Hugo Ekitike took over for Niels Nkounkou, Mario Götze, and Fares Chaibi. An injury to midfield linchpin Ellyes Skhiri led to a midfield deployment for Manchester United loanee Donny van de Beek. Defender Tuta joined the Dutchman in midfield whilst Max helped Wilian Pacho, Robin Koch, and Aurelio Buta form a back-four.
In one of his many reunions with the club at which he captured the 2017/18 DFB Pokal, VfL Wolfsburg trainer Niko Kovac made only one change to the side that impressively drew Dortmund in the league last week. Yannick Gerhardt - the sub who scored the equalizer of the bench for the German Wolves - started over Matthias Svanberg in midfield. The VfL lined up in the 4-4-2 they've been using for several weeks.
The match got off to an electric start with Wolfsburg defender Maxence Lacroix scored off a corner in the second. It constituted an excellent team goal. Lovro Majer did well to win the set-piece. Skipper Maximilian Arnold hit the post on an initial effort off the the dead ball. Struggling Danish striker Jonas Wind picked up the rebound and and registered an assist with a fine cross for his defender.
The Hessian hosts furnished a worthy response some twelve minutes later. Max initiated an attack down the left and continued his run all the way into the penalty area. The highly touted Ekitike ended up feeding Max for the 1-1 from close range, in the process earning his first scorer point since moving to the Bundesliga. Both teams kept the tempo up during what was a highly entertaining half-hour.
Either side could have scored the next goal, but it was the Lower Saxon guests who ended up taking the lead back. Wind did well to hold a long vertical up in the 36th before unlocking his fellow Dane Joakim Maehle. Kevin Behrens polished off Maehle's cross for the 2-1. After four games with his new club, Behrens was finally able to open his VfL account.
The flow of the second half suffered after the Eintracht ultras - despite the defeat of the DFL investor deal earlier this week - opted to throw some projectiles onto the pitch anyway. In this particular case, the SGE ultras wished to call attention to the fact that Wolfsburg (sponsored by Volkswagen) remain a non 50+1 club.
Flummis and tennis balls thrown from the Kurve were quickly cleared. The two teams seemed less inclined to take risks during the second 45. Stoppages substitutions, and injury interruptions didn't help matters. Eintracht began pressing in earnest with approximately five minutes remaining. Wolfsburg sat deep in hopes of preserving their win.
The equalizer came at 90+2 when the RheinMain Adler managed to work a long VfL clearance back into the area quickly. SGE legend Timothy Chandler, just subbed on some two minutes prior, headed the ball adroitly into the path of Omar Marmoush. The Egyptian international took two intelligent touches and finished cleanly.
Frankfurt pressed even deeper in hopes of getting a late winner. The brief protest interruption meant that the fixture was accorded ten minutes of added time. Marmoush was able to penetrate the penalty area on a couple of occasions, but opening goalscorer Lacroix proved equal to both him and Dina Ebimbe, tackling away each time.