Knauff hits brace in 4-0 win | OneFootball

Eintracht beat Leipzig 4-0 in Saturday evening’s crunch clash thanks to a brace from Ansgar Knauff and goals from Hugo Ekitiké and Robin Koch.

The starting line-up showed three changes from last weekend’s draw at Augsburg. Rasmus Kristensen missed out with a muscular problem so Nnamdi Collins came into the defence, while Farès Chaibi and Michy Batshuayi dropped to the bench in favour of Ansgar Knauff and Jean-Mattéo Bahoya.

Deserved lead

After a cagey opening 20 minutes, in which Benjamin Sesko’s long-range effort was the only shot on target, Eintracht broke the deadlock with their first chance on 21 minutes. In a swift transition from back to front, Hugo Larsson released Hugo Ekitiké and he drove forward before threading the ball into the path of Knauff, who slotted in his first goal of 2025.

The goal proved to be a catalyst for the Eagles, who were the better side for the rest of the first half and had a number of opportunities to extend their lead. Tuta twice headed over from corners, while Knauff was again teed up by Ekitiké but was denied by a good block from El Chadaille Bitshiabu – although the goal would’ve been disallowed for offside anyway. The visitors, despite having more possession, offered little going forward and deservedly found themselves a goal down at half-time.

Effective Eagles take full advantage

Leipzig made a change at the break, bringing on dangerman Lois Openda for Kosta Nedeljkovic, but Zsolt Lőw’s side suffered a disastrous start to the second period. First Bitshiabu was shown a straight red card for tripping Knauff was he ran through on goal. From the resulting free-kick on the edge of the box, Arthur Theate’s powerful drive was beaten away by Maarten Vandevoordt as far as Knauff, who added to his Bundesliga goal tally for the season with a brilliant first-time volley.

The Eagles were in complete control now despite Leipzig continuing to have the majority of possession, and stretched their lead to three in the 67th minute. Bahoya’s corner was cleared but recycled back to the Frenchman, whose curling delivery was met by a thumping header from Ekitiké for his 15th Bundesliga goal of the campaign. Another corner resulted in the next goal five minutes later. This time Nathaniel Brown was the provider and Robin Koch the finisher as Frankfurt made it 4-0 from just six shots on target.

That was game over and Dino Toppmöller was able to use up his substitutes in the closing stages, with the introduction of Timothy Chandler getting a particularly loud cheer from the jubilant home crowd at Deutsche Bank Park. The result leaves Eintracht four points clear in third place with just three matchdays left.