Lively friendly in Leutzsch

With ten Eintracht players away on international duty, it was an opportunity for other players to impress. And so the likes of Timothy Chandler, Philipp Max and Lucas Alario were included in the starting line-up, while the six-man bench was made up of youngsters, many of whom were given a runout in the second half.

The Eagles were the dominant team at the noisy and colourful Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark, but clear-cut chances were few and far between in the first half. Max and Alario both narrowly missed the target from good positions, while Jens Petter Hauge was denied by goalkeeper Lenno Udo Schmidt after dancing his way into the penalty area. It was actually Jens Grahl in the Frankfurt goal who was the busier of the two keepers, making a number of good saves to keep out Chemie’s handful of attempts on goal.

The second half started in the worst possible way for Eintracht. First Florian Kirstein swept in the opening goal, before Timo Mauer doubled the lead six minutes later, squeezing the ball in after his initial shot had been saved by Grahl. There was a lull in the action after that, with several substitutions on both sides disrupting the tempo of the contest.

Eintracht rallied again towards the end of the game and pulled a goal back through youngster Noel Futkeu, but it wasn’t enough to salvage a draw. In any case, there’s plenty to think about for Dino Toppmöller, whose attention now turns to the next Bundesliga match at TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday 21 October.

Head coach Dino Toppmöller: "They're great images with the fans. Leipzig did well. We're not so used to playing with each other, but we still should've won. The boys who came on in the second half did well, like Nacho and Futkeu did with our goal. It was a game with great conditions and a deserved winner."