The Eagles took an early lead in the rescheduled tie through Amin Younes, but Lucas Alario’s penalty drew Bayer level before Edmond Tapsoba and a Moussa Diaby brace settled it in the second half.
Four changes
Adi Hütter made four changes to the team that started in the 2-0 win at Mainz 05 on Saturday. Aymen Barkok replaced the suspended Filip Kostic on the left, while Sebastian Rode and Stefan Ilsanker took the places of Makoto Hasebe and Djibril Sow – who was absent due to the impending birth of his child – in central midfield. Tuta came in for outgoing captain David Abraham in the other alteration.
Setback after lightning start
Eintracht made the perfect start at the BayArena, taking the lead after just six minutes. Some intricate passing down the right-hand side ended with Andre Silva touching the ball on for Younes, who swept it home for his second goal in an SGE shirt – both of them coming against Leverkusen. It was almost 2-0 seven minutes later when Silva got the better of Jonathan Tah, but his shot was saved by former Eintracht keeper Lukas Hradecky.
A few unfortunate minutes for Frankfurt would change the game, however. First, Leverkusen equalised when Erik Durm was adjudged to have handled Leon Bailey’s cross, and Alario converted the resulting penalty. The lively Younes was then forced off after picking up an injury, with Steven Zuber replacing him. The match quietened down after that, with Kevin Trapp’s save from Wendell’s powerful shot the only notable incident before the break.
Leverkusen ruthless
The Eagles came out of the blocks quickly again after the restart, Barkok and Durm both testing Hradecky, but it was the home side who took the lead. Kerem Demirbay’s free-kick found Tapsoba, who had the space to place his header past Trapp and put the Werkself in front. Trapp was again called into action a few minutes later, beating away Diaby’s fierce volley.
Leverkusen extended their lead in the 67th minute, when Eintracht lost possession and allowed Nadiem Amiri to weave in from the left and feed Diaby, who fired past Trapp. The Eagles kept plugging away and were given some hope when Jonathan Tah was shown a straight red card for pulling down Silva as he ran through. Substitute Ajdin Hrustic could have set up a tense finish, but he blasted over in the 86th minute, and instead Diaby wrapped up the victory for Leverkusen from the resulting counter-attack.
Summary: Harsh scoreline
Having made an impressive start, Eintracht never recovered after Leverkusen’s equaliser and the injury to Younes. The margin of defeat was harsh on Adi Hütter’s side, but the hosts were more clinical in the second half, sealing their berth in the last 16.
SGE line-up
Trapp – Tuta (Chandler 79’), Hinteregger, Ndicka – Durm (Toure 70’), Ilsanker, Rode, Barkok (Kohr 70’) – Kamada (Hrustic 70’), Younes (Zuber 29’) – Silva
Goals
0-1 Younes (6’)
1-1 Alario (27’ pen)
2-1 Tapsoba (49’)
3-1 Diaby (67’)
4-1 Diaby (87’)
