Kamada and Buta net crucial goals

Back-to-back, 90-minute friendlies against KKS Lech Poznan on the eve of their return to Frankfurt provided the Eagles squad with an opportunity to put everything they’ve been working on in training over the past nine days into practice under regular match conditions.

Despite the early change, the Eagles remained in control defensively against the current sixth-placed side in the Polish Ekstraklasa but struggled to make inroads in the final third. The closest they came to a first-half opener was in the second minute when Jesper Lindström’s long-range drive was held by goalkeeper Filip Bednarek after Eintracht had won possession deep inside the Poznan half.

Oliver Glasner’s side showed more ambition after the restart and took the lead when Ansgar Knauff and Lindström combined to set up Daichi Kamada, who played a one-two with Mario Götze before finishing with aplomb (51’).

With an hour gone, Poznan also started to emerge from their shell and would have restored parity had Kevin Trapp not pulled off saves in consecutive one-on-one situations (65’). Bednarek then denied Lindström and Pellegrini at the other end as the first game of the day went Eintracht’s way.

The cooler afternoon temperatures appeared to suit the Polish side, who remained strong in the tackle but showed more attacking intent at the start of the teams’ second friendly. While Eintracht struggled to test the opposition goalkeeper, Lech opened the scoring with their first opportunity of the game as Artur Sobiech beat Diant Ramaj after collecting Kristoffer Velde’s pass (10’). They doubled their advantage 12 minutes later when Nika Kvekveskiri fired home directly from a free-kick.

The Hessians began playing with greater purpose after half an hour, with Aurélio Buta in particular causing Lech problems down the right-hand side. After skipping past his marker five minutes before the break, the 25-year-old Portuguese squared the ball to Lucas Alario to reduce the arrears.

Buta gets his goal

The Bundesliga side dominated large parts of the second period, with the Polish club’s only opportunity of the half coming on the counter-attack with an hour gone. Jens Grahl showed lightning reflexes to deny Gio Tsitaishvili, who had broken clear of the Eintracht rearguard.

With 12 minutes remaining, the Eagles won possession from a Lech throw-in and set up Buta, who capped a lively performance with the equaliser 12 minutes from time.