A lot of idle time, an own goal and weakened guests: Eintracht Frankfurt does not have to exhaust itself before the upcoming Euro Cup game. Two quick goals in each half ensure clear conditions. Werder can never embarrass the hosts
Eintracht Frankfurt celebrated a successful dress rehearsal for the big Champions League duel with SSC Naples and reconnected with the top flight of the Bundesliga. The Hessians won 2-0 (1-0) against Werder Bremen and, sixth in the table, now have 38 points. In front of 50,000 spectators, Bremen’s Marco Friedl scored with an own goal in the 8th minute and Randal Kolo Muani (52nd) with his tenth goal of the season for Eintracht, which three days before the round of 16 first leg in the premier class against Naples was an average performance to succeed .
The hosts started energetically and immediately put pressure on Bremen, who are still in no man’s land in tenth place with 27 points. Already in the 3rd minute it became dangerous for the first time in front of the guest goal when Ansgar Knauff, who was new to the starting XI, narrowly missed a cross from Jesper Lindström. Five minutes later, Eintracht celebrated. After a long free-kick, Kristijan Jakic passed the ball straight in, where Bremen’s captain Friedl unluckily maneuvered the ball into his own goal. A little later, Daichi Kamada, who ran freely, missed the big chance to make it 2-0 when he clearly missed.
Werder only tentatively made their way forward and hardly ever made the Frankfurt defense sweat. The lack of top performers Mitchell Weiser, Christian Groß and Leonardo Bittencourt, who were injured, ill or suspended, was clearly noticeable in the promoted team.
But the initial momentum was also lost in Frankfurt. A harmless header from Knauff, which represented the Portuguese Aurélio Buta well on the right, was the only scene worth mentioning until just before the break. Otherwise there was a lot of idle time on both sides. Only in added time in the first half did Eintracht have another chance, but Lindström hastily missed it.
Shortly after the restart, coach Oliver Glasner’s team followed suit. Kolo Muani’s header was initially denied by Werder goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka, but Knauff put the rebound into the middle again, where the Frenchman only had to put his foot down.
After that, Frankfurt switched to administration mode to save a little energy. Although Bremen tried hard, they acted far too harmlessly to turn the game around. A goal by Niclas Füllkrug in added time didn’t count because of offside. For the North Germans it was the second game in a row without their own goal.
