Eintracht had the majority of the possession and the chances at Deutsche Bank Park, where 6,500 fans were allowed inside, but had to settle for a point against the disciplined visitors after Silva cancelled out Cebio Soukou’s opener with his ninth goal in his last 11 Bundesliga outings.
Two changes from cup win
Head coach Adi Hütter made two changes to his starting line-up following last Saturday’s 2-1 victory over 1860 München in the DFB Cup. Filip Kostic, who was suspended for that game, returned on the left flank in place of Steven Zuber, while Makoto Hasebe came in for the injured Evan Ndicka at the back.
Chances but no goals
Following some early sparring, Eintracht began to dominate. David Abraham, Bas Dost and Sebastian Rode all had half-chances from corners, but the first clear-cut opportunity fell to Danny da Costa, who volleyed just wide from Kostic’s delicate cross in the 22nd minute. Two minutes later, Da Costa nearly deflected the ball into his own net at the other end but the post spared his blushes.
The Eagles continued to have most of the play, though, and their high pressing nearly forced the opening goal in the 32nd minute when they won possession on the edge of the Bielefeld penalty box, but the chance went begging with Silva’s back-heel being saved by Stefan Ortega. After that, both sides created some threatening situations but couldn’t break the deadlock before the interval.
Eagles equalise but can’t find a winner
Hütter made a double substitution at half-time and one of them, Aymen Barkok, nearly set up the opening goal as his cross was headed against the underside of the crossbar by Martin Hinteregger. The visitors were more clinical a few minutes later, when Sergio Cordova’s incisive pass set Soukou free and he lifted the ball past Kevin Trapp.
Eintracht were not behind for long, though. With 62 minutes on the clock, Kostic’s cross was flicked on by Dost for Silva to nip in and head in the deserved equaliser. After that, Hütter’s men looked the more likely to go on and take all three points, with Bielefeld happy to hold onto the one they had. Some wonderful one-touch play between Abraham, Zuber and Daichi Kamada nearly led to a goal – although it would’ve been offside anyway – but that was as close as the hosts came to finding a winner.
Positives on and off the pitch
With a bit more accuracy in front of goal, Eintracht could have won the match. Arminia will certainly be the more pleased of the two sides, but everyone will have been happy to see fans back inside the stadium.
SGE line-up
Trapp – Abraham, Hinteregger, Hasebe – Da Costa (Zuber 46’), Rode (Ilsanker 77’), Kohr (Barkok 46’), Kostic – Kamada (Chandler 88’) – Dost, Silva
Goals
0-1 (Soukou (51‘)
1-1 (Silva 62‘)
