Ahead of the kick-off it was announced that “Eternal Oka” Nikolov had extended his contract at the club for another year. Eintracht manager Armin Veh made one change to the starting line-up: Alexander Meier returned from his injury and replaced Karim Matmour, team captain Pirmin Schwegler was at least on the bench, also recovering from an injury.
EARLY BLOW
Wolfsburg confirmed their strength and recent form early on – they had gone unbeaten in nine games ahead of the match and are the third best away team. While Perisic’s artistic attempt went over the bar (4’) it was moments later Polak who connected with a Rodriguez corner and found the back of the net – 1-0 to VfL (8’). The Eagles were still getting over the early blow when Wolfsburg came forward already again – Vierinha’s shot from a difficult angle hit the post (13’).
SGE then came pushing for their chances, Inui was set up in the box by Jung with a fine cross and his shot came ever so close but just missed the target to the left (16’). And only minutes later it was again the Japanese midfielder – this time from the right – who let loose a fierce attempt and hit the post (19’). On the counter attack VfL showed their ruthless efficiency again when Diego converted the attack down the left from close range – 2-0 (19’).
EAGLES GET ONE BACK
The Eagles struggled to grab hold of the match against a well-organized Wolfsburg team but that proved difficult with the guests being two goals up. Diego came close to adding another one from close range but Oka Nikolov was at hand (31’). Minutes later Hasebe fouled Inui in the Wolfsburg box and referee Zwayer sent him off and awarded a penalty – Meier stepped up and converted from the spot (36’). It was Meier’s 16th goal of the season, he is not only Eintracht’s top scorer but also the league’s third best. Apart from a Naldo free-kick which was easily caught by Nikolov no more major happenings were to be reported – the 2-1 score line in Wolfsburg’s favour stood at the break.
EINTRACHT SUBSTITUTIONS
Djakpa was brought on by Armin Veh for Oczipka at the restart of the match. The Eagles came close to scoring the equalizer when Russ picked up an Anderson header which had hit the cross bar and converted from close range - but the goal was given offside (49'). Later Zambrano left the pitch and Schwegler came on (59’) and took over alongside Rode in defensive midfield, Russ moved back to the central defense. Schwegler had a go right away from the edge of the box but his shot went wide (59’). Not too many chances occurred at either end at this stage with the Eagles being slightly on the up and mostly in ball possession. But Wolfsburg had little to lose and did well to overcome being one man down, they remained a threat going forward throughout the match. Then Veh had to use his third substitution when goalkeeper Nikolov had to be taken off with an injury, Aykut Özer came on for his very first Bundesliga match in the Eintracht goal (66’).
While SGE recorded most of the possession they did not manage to create major scoring opportunities, Wolfsburg defended passionately and left little space to the hosts. It was a tense and thrilling match – mainly because of the overall situation though. As long as Hamburg or Mönchengladbach would not take the lead in their matches Eintracht would be qualified for Europe. But it was only after 87 minutes that SGE had a decent chance again in their own match – once again Inui broke through but his attempt was saved by Wolfsburg keeper Benaglio.
LATE DECIDER
Minutes later the news of Leverkusen scoring the lead against Hamburg went around the ground and it was also announced via the video cube. Celebrations kicked in right away and when Schwegler hit a long ball towards the goal and Rodriguez headed it over his own goalkeeper into the back of the net (90’) it was pure ecstasy at the Commerzbank Arena. The Eagles are qualified for Europe, for the first time since 2006! They’re the 11th promoted side to achieve that and only the 6th team to qualify via the league (not the cup final) after promotion. What a fantastic season it has been for the team and the fans.
