Head coach Dino Toppmöller made five changes to his starting line-up following the 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen eight days ago. There was a full debut for January signing Jean-Mattéo Bahoya and just a second league start of the season for Makoto Hasebe, while Hugo Larsson, Aurélio Buta und Niels Nkounkou were also recalled in place of the suspended Tuta and Éric Junior Dina Ebimbe as well as Philipp Max, Nnamdi Collins and Mario Götze, who was ruled out by conjunctivitis.
Clinical Stuttgart take commanding lead
On a warm and sunny evening at the MHPArena – which was at full capacity again following its recent renovation – the third-placed hosts assumed control of the game early on and were celebrating after 11 minutes. Serhou Guirassy latched onto a long ball from Maximilian Mittelstädt and volleyed into the top corner, and although the flag went up for offside, a VAR review found that the striker timed his run perfectly and he was awarded his 25th goal of the campaign. Minutes later, VfB doubled their lead when Deniz Undav pinched the ball off Robin Koch and drove into the area before squeezing a low shot into the bottom left corner.
Eintracht looked for a way back in the game and Omar Marmoush had their only real chance of the half in the 28thminute, but his fierce shot was straight at goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow. The hosts then added a third when a ball through the middle suddenly set Jamie Leweling free, and despite taking a heavy touch he managed to poke the ball underneath Kevin Trapp. The tempo died down after that and after six minutes of added time, it remained 3-0 at the break.
Improvement but no goals
Toppmöller introduced Hugo Ekitiké in place of Ansgar Knauff for the second half and the Frenchman was involved immediately, first having a shot blocked by Waldemar Anton and then failing to get the required contact on Farès Chaibi’s ball across goal.
Eintracht had more of the game in the second half but were largely kept at bay by the Stuttgart defence. Bredlow was forced into two saves from Marmoush’s free-kick and substitute Max’s shot from range, but the Eagles’ efforts went unrewarded as Stuttgart, who offered little in attack in the second period, saw out the game comfortably. There was at least one positive sign for the future for Frankfurt with U19 attacker Marko Mladenovic making his professional debut in the closing stages, replacing Hasebe – a man 7,683 days his senior.
