Head coach Oliver Glasner made four changes to the team following the Champions League round of 16 first leg against Napoli in midweek. Mario Götze was ruled out by an adductor problem so Sebastian Rode was recalled in midfield, while Hrvoje Smolcic, Makoto Hasebe and Ansgar Knauff came in for Evan Ndicka, Kristijan Jakic and Aurélio Buta.
Fast start leaves Eintracht trailing
Leipzig made the better start and had a big chance to take the lead with less than two minutes played. Yussuf Poulsen’s cross was pushed out by Kevin Trapp as far as Marcel Halstenberg, who skewed his shot wide. Poulsen set up another chance two minutes later for Emil Forsberg, but he too missed the target. The hosts’ early pressure paid off moments later, though, when Tuta miscontrolled the ball and allowed Forsberg to thread it through for Timo Werner, who managed to squeeze it under the onrushing Trapp and into the net.
Eintracht struggled to get a foothold in the game, while Leipzig continued to threaten going forward, Konrad Laimer drawing a save from Trapp with a shot from the right of the penalty area. The Eagles’ best opportunity of the half came from Philipp Max’s free-kick on the edge of the box, which clipped the wall and went over. Just as Glasner’s side were starting to see more of the ball, Leipzig made it 2-0 shortly before half-time. This time it was Werner who supplied Forsberg, who was afforded space to slot in from close range.
Sow gives Eagles hope
Improvement was required in the second half and it came early on. Jesper Lindström registered the Eagles’ first shot on target with a low effort at the near post, shortly before Randal Kolo Muani’s strike was tipped over the bar by Janis Blaswich. Glasner turned to his bench on the hour mark, bringing on Buta, Jakic and Christopher Lenz, and the former had an instant impact. The ball came to Buta on the right and he pulled it back for Djibril Sow, who took one touch and hammered an unstoppable volley past Blaswich for his third goal of the season.
Frankfurt were buoyed by that goal and came close to an equaliser just a few minutes later, with Lindström skipping into the penalty area and then firing at Blaswich from a tight angle. With the contest finely poised, both sides pushed for the next goal. Laimer and ex-Eagle André Silva both came close to sealing the result for the hosts, but ultimately they saw it out. The result sees Eintracht slip to sixth in the table, with seventh-placed Wolfsburg next up on Matchday 23.
SGE line-up
Trapp – Tuta, Hasebe (Alario 88’), Smolcic – Knauff (Buta 60’), Rode (Jakic 60’), Sow, Max (Lenz 60’) – Lindström, Kamada (Borré 79’) – Kolo Muani
Goals
1-0 Werner (6’)
2-0 Forsberg (40’)
2-1 Sow (61’)