Starts for Koch and Lindström
With eight days to go until Eintracht’s first competitive game of the new season against 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig, Dino Toppmöller made two changes to the side that started the draw with Vitesse Arnhem last Friday. Robin Koch was included at centre-back after recovering from a groin problem, while Jesper Lindström started alongside Randal Kolo Muani in a 3-5-2 system. Jens Petter Hauge and Makoto Hasebe were among the substitutes, but Sebastian Rode was absent because of a cold.
Eintracht in control
The Eagles made a bright start at Deutsche Bank Park and almost broke the deadlock inside five minutes, but George Shelvey made a smart save to deny Éric Junior Dina Ebimbe from the edge of the box. Chances were few and far between for the rest of the half, although Shelvey was relieved to see an attempted clearance sail over the crossbar after rebounding off Mario Götze midway through the first period.
Ben Johnson headed wide from Danilo’s delivery as the Premier League side improved after the restart, but Eintracht continued to threaten and Joe Worrall had to be on his toes to block a fierce Lindström shot after the Dane had linked up well with Götze. Kolo Muani was then denied by Shelvey from point-blank range, before Lindström’s looping header bounced agonisingly over the crossbar.
Close… but not close enough
Philipp Max was next to try his luck as Toppmöller’s side continued to turn the screw, dragging a low shot wide of the far post from the edge of the area. Incredibly, the Eagles were then denied by the woodwork twice in quick succession as Omar Marmoush – one of ten Eintracht changes with 25 minutes remaining – struck one post before Jessic Ngankam fired against the other from the rebound.
Kevin Trapp, who captained the Eagles in Rode’s absence, made a fine save to deny Danilo before Scott McKenna had a late header disallowed for offside in a rare spell of pressure from the visitors. Fit-again Ansgar Knauff was then denied by Shelvey at the other end as an entertaining second period ended goalless.
“Fans backed us superbly”
“Over the 90 minutes we hardly gave away anything,” head coach Toppmöller said afterwards. “The fans backed us superbly but we couldn’t give them a goal unfortunately. It feels great to be back here. I feel very happy here and had goose bumps when we came out onto the pitch.”
