Daichi Kamada thought he had cancelled out Dodi Lukebakio’s opener seven minutes before half-time, but the Eagles’ celebrations were cut short following a review by the video assistant referee. Marko Grujic doubled the visitors’ lead after the break, but goals from Hinteregger and Rode earned Eintracht a deserved share of the spoils.
Personnel: Hasebe returns
Adi Hütter made three changes to the Eintracht side that slipped to a third straight league defeat at Mainz on Monday. Gelson Fernandes replaced the suspended Dominik Kohr in midfield, while veteran defender Makoto Hasebe returned from illness in place of Evan Ndicka. The young Frenchman was joined on the bench by Rode, with Portuguese frontman André Silva handed his first Bundesliga start since Matchday 7.
First half: Lukebakio opens the scoring
There was little to choose between the two sides during a cautious opening period at the Commerzbank-Arena. The Eagles began to grow in confidence as the first half progressed, though, with Almamy Toure forcing a fine save out of Thomas Kraft and Djibril Sow fizzing an effort wide from a good position.
Kraft had to be on his toes to keep out Hinteregger’s powerful strike as the Eagles edged closer to a breakthrough, but they were behind two minutes later when Lukebakio collected Grujic’s pass before finishing confidently past Frederik Rönnow. Eintracht responded well and thought they had equalised when Kamada turned home a Filip Kostic cross following Goncalo Paciencia’s dummy, but VAR spotted a foul in the build-up and ruled the goal out, giving the visitors a narrow lead at the interval.
Second half: Rode to the rescue
Eintracht came out for the second half with renewed vigour and went close to an equaliser within seconds of the restart, Toure sending a powerful header wide of the near post. However, the visitors doubled their lead out of nothing when Grujic slotted Dedryck Boyata’s lay-off past Rönnow from the edge of the six-yard area.
Hinteregger turned in Toure’s flick-on two minutes later to restore hope among the home fans, who were on their feet again when Kraft appeared to bundle the ball into his own net while under pressure from Silva. However, the Portuguese forward was adjudged to have fouled the Hertha keeper and the goal was chalked off. Just as Jürgen Klinsmann’s side appeared to be hanging on for a priceless victory, second-half substitute Rode found the roof of the net from a corner to salvage a point for the Eagles.
Summary: Plenty of positives despite stalemate
Hütter’s charges were perhaps unfortunate not to claim all three points, but a combination of profligacy and fine goalkeeping by Kraft let the visitors off the hook. The Eintracht boss will be pleased with his side’s response to falling 2-0 down, though. On this evidence, it is surely only a matter of time before the Eagles return to winning ways.
SGE line-up
Rönnow - Toure, Hasebe, Hinteregger - da Costa, Fernandes (Rode 61’), Sow, Kostic - Kamada - Silva (Joveljic 84’), Paciencia
Goals
0-1 Lukebakio (30’)
0-2 Grujic (63’)
1-2 Hinteregger (65’)
2-2 Rode (86’)