Eintracht Frankfurt make statement with four-goal blowout victory | OneFootball

The primetime match of a Saturday afternoon full of action featured Eintracht Frankfurt and RB Leipzig, at Deutsche Bank Park. This was a crucial match for both teams, as they are both in European competition spots, and separated by just three points; Eintracht are third, in a Champions League spot, with a 15-7-8 record and 52 points, while Leipzig are fifth, 13-10-7 with 49.

Frankfurt and Leipzig both managed two shots on target in the first half, with the visitors holding 59 % possession; that percentage even went up to 65 % for Leipzig at certain times, particularly around the thirteenth minute, when the first major chance of the match would take place.

In the thirteenth minute, Benjamin Šeško ran across the left side of the Frankfurt half and launched a decent attempt from long range past a Robin Koch screen, towards the top-right corner; Kevin Trapp jumped and met it with both gloves, turning it away for a corner that would eventually be unsuccessful.

The momentum went almost completely in Leipzig's favour up to the twenty-minute mark, but it would be completely halted when the hosts would get the opener in the twenty-first minute. Hugo Ekitiké, challenged by Lukas Klostermann, picked out Ansgar Knauff from the left side of the Frankfurt half; Knauff ran into the box unopposed, split between El Chadaille Bitshiabu and Castello Lukeba in the middle of the box, and smashed the ball into the bottom-left corner.

Eintracht kept that momentum for most of the remainder of this half, winning a corner kick off a clearance just two minutes later. Tuta got a free header from the right side of the penalty area, but Maarten Vandevoordt moved slightly to the left and was able to grab the ball with both hands.

Twenty-nine minutes in, Jean-Mattéo Bahoya and Knauff enter the Leipzig penalty area on a two-on-one. Bahoya almost managed a pass to Knauff, who was once again in the central areas of the 18-yard box, but Bitshiabu was able to knock the ball away for a corner. On the ensuing corner, Ekitiké headed the ball from the left side of the box to the right, where Tuta was placed for a second chance; the Brazilian centre-back almost headed the attempt in, but bumps into Nicolas Seiwald and thus sent it just wide.

The second half started with Knauff taking a through ball from Ekitiké just outside the box at the fiftieth-minute mark; in a one-on-one with Bitshiabu tracking, the French centre-back tripped up Knauff at the edge of the box, and was immediately dismissed by referee Matthias Jöllenbeck. The following free kick was taken by Arthur Theate, on target but denied by Vandevoordt; the ball landed right to Knauff, who sent the attempt into the centre of the goal to double the lead.

Frankfurt did not look back after that; Ekitiké made it 3-0 in the sixty-seventh minute of this match, taking full advantage of a cross from Bahoya just seconds after a corner kick; the French international leapt above Lutsharel Geertruida and headed the ball into the bottom-left corner. Frankfurt took advantage of yet another corner just five minutes later, as Robin Koch directed a free header into the top-right corner off a cross from Nathaniel Brown.

Leipzig managed one shot on target in the second half, an attempt from Ridle Baku on the right side of the Frankfurt half in the eighty-fourth minute, but the attempt was not too hard for Trapp to glove down with both hands and hold for a goal kick. A few minutes later, the final whistle went on a dominant performance from SGE, meaning that one more victory in the next three weeks, against one of Mainz, St. Pauli, or Freiburg, will be enough to qualify them for Champions League football.

This result also ties with four other matches for the worst defeat from RB Leipzig in a Bundesliga match, a difference of four goals; the other three were a 0-4 defeat to Hoffenheim in 2017 / 18, a 0-4 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022 / 23, and two 1-5 defeats this season, coming to VfL Wolfsburg in matchweek 12 and FC Bayern München in matchweek 15. Leipzig is now at 49 points, with Bayern, Werder, and Stuttgart left in their schedule; Dortmund, who hold the last spot in Europe, are just behind them at 48, and Mainz is at 47.