Edged out in Leverkusen | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt’s five-match unbeaten run in the Bundesliga ended with a 2-1 defeat at Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Matchday 7.

There were four changes to the starting line-up from the 3-3 draw against Bayern Munich before the international break. Fit-again captain Kevin Trapp returned in goal in place of Kaua Santos, while Niels Nkounkou, Junior Dina Ebimbe and Mario Götze were also recalled. Farès Chaibi and Ellyes Skhiri dropped to the bench, with Ansgar Knauff sidelined by illness.

Pulsating first half

The game lived up to its billing with an incident-packed first 25 minutes. After Granit Xhaka fired an early warning shot for Leverkusen, the hosts were awarded a controversial penalty when Dina Ebimbe caught Amine Adli as he cleared the ball. Referee Dr. Felix Brych pointed to the spot and, despite a lengthy VAR review, the decision stood. However, Victor Boniface’s weak spot-kick was held by Trapp (9’).

Eintracht got into the game more after that and went close for the first time in the 12th minute, when Omar Marmoush’s fierce strike from around 20 metres rattled the upright. Moments later, the Eagles were awarded a penalty of their own after the referee was alerted by the video assistant to a foul on Marmoush by Robert Andrich just inside the box. The Egyptian took it himself and drilled it into the bottom-left corner, netting his ninth goal in six Bundesliga games (16’).

Leverkusen went back on the attack in search of an equaliser and after Trapp denied Boniface from close range (23’), the Bundesliga champions were level when Andrich finished off a flowing move (25’). The action slowed down a little for the remainder of the first half, although Hugo Ekitiké did have the ball in the net for the Eagles but Dina Ebimbe was offside in the build-up (45’).

Boniface the match-winner

The second period started at a slower tempo than the first. The hosts had the majority of the play but after Boniface headed over early on (49’), there was little in the way of chances until the 63rd, when Andrich’s shot hit the far post. That signalled in an increase in the tempo and the pressure from the Werkself, with substitute Florian Wirtz testing Trapp (68’).

Dino Toppmöller made his first two substitutions on the 70-minute mark, Farès Chaibi and Jean-Mattéo Bahoya replacing Dina Ebimbe and Götze, but they had barely been on the pitch when the hosts took the lead. Wirtz’s cross was cut out by the foot of Trapp, but the ball looped in the air for Boniface to bundle in (72’).  Both teams made a number of substitutions in the minutes that followed, but it wasn’t until stoppage time that Eintracht had a big chance to equalise. A mix-up in the Leverkusen defence saw Lukas Hradecky kick the ball against defender Jonathan Tah, Ekitiké ran onto the loose ball but couldn’t direct it into the net under pressure from Tah – although not enough pressure for Brych and the VAR to review. Trapp then had to get down well to deny Wirtz at the other end as the match finished in a narrow victory for the hosts.