Frederik Rønnow saved an injury-time penalty as Bundesliga’s home curse continue | OneFootball

After results elsewhere on matchday 25, both teams need three points from Sunday’s Bundesliga opener at Deutsche Bank Park. Eintracht Frankfurt dropped to fourth after Mainz’s stunning win in Mönchengladbach last Friday. Meanwhile, Union Berlin also saw the three teams beneath them pick up unexpected points yesterday.

Dino Toppmöller’s Frankfurt came off an excellent Europa League win in Amsterdam. The Eagles also never lost to the Köpenickers under their current coach (2-2-0). Similarly, Steffen Baumgart had a decent record in games against Frankfurt in his managerial career (3-3-1).

However, last week’s home defeat to Holstein Kiel forced Baumgart to make four changes to his starting XI. Despite their European heroics, Frankfurt suffered back-to-back league defeats before this one. Including the task of replacing Robin Koch (ill) and Thursday’s matchwinner Ellyes Skhiri (suspended), Toppmöller made seven swaps from last week’s defeat to Leverkusen.

Although the hosts were the clear favorites, no team in the Bundesliga won a home match since Bayern’s 4-0 win over Frankfurt a fortnight ago.

Yet, Frankfurt took the lead with the game’s first real opening in the 13th minute. Leopold Querfeld’s block from Rasmus Kristensen’s shot delivered the ball to the feet of Michy Batshuayi, who thankfully slotted home his first goal for the club.

The goal served as a wake-up call for Union with chances for Ivan Ilić and Tim Skarke before the half-hour mark. Moments later, Frederik Rønnow made a good save from a header by Farès Chaïbi, who started for the first time in 2025 after Arthur Theate faced muscular issues during warmup.

Other than that and a half-hearted penalty appeal from Jean-Mattéo Bahoya, the Lions restricted their hosts to half-chances, while they showed more attacking intent to get back in the game. Nonetheless, the closest they came to scoring in the first-half was when Querfeld nearly beat his own goalkeeper.

Both coaches went for double changes early in the second-half with Mario Götze and Benedict Hollerbach, who scored the goals when the teams drew 1-1 in the corresponding fixture, among those to enter the foray. But, it was the all-action Querfeld who netted the next goal of the match.

An inviting corner-kick from 38-year-old Christopher Trimmel, who looked dangerous all game on his first start in a couple of months, was duly converted by the Austrian defender. Union continued to pose more threat from a set-piece, while the Scandinavians duo Hugo Larsson and Kristensen had good opportunities for Frankfurt.

Inside the last 15 minutes, Union completed the comeback when Jeong Woo-yeong didn’t need help from his teammates to slot home a fine effort from 16 meters. The South Korean turned provider for Hollerbach, but the goal was chalked off by VAR for a handball by András Schäfer in the process.

A VAR decision involving a handball was also at center stage in injury-time when Frankfurt awarded a penalty-kick. However, just like the game against Kiel, Hugo Ekitike missed the opportunity as Rønnow saved his third penalty of the season.

The result saw Union climb to 13th place, a point ahead of Hoffenheim, who are facing Heidenheim in the last game of the matchday. Frankfurt, who lost three games in a row, slumped out of the top three for the first time since MD10. Toppmöller’s side will hope to make it into the Europa League quarter-final when they host Ajax on Thursday.