PLAYER RATINGS | Eintracht Frankfurt 1-4 Bayer Leverkusen | OneFootball

A commanding performance from Bayer Leverkusen as they beat Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1 at the Waldstadion to stay within eight points of Bayern Munich.

The game started off very lively but as time went on Leverkusen gained a strong control of the game and it was only a matter of time before they opened the scoring and that game when a Frankfurt clearance landed at Granit Xhaka who threaded the ball through to Nathan Tella to equalise. Not long after a Leverkusen corner is played in and after some bouncing around, Nordi Mukiele prodded home to make it 2-0, then not long after that Patrik Schick then made it 3-0 after he converted a Alejandro Grimaldo cut-back.

There was a brief lapse of concentration where Leverkusen did their best impression for VfB Stuttgart, when goalscorer Mukiele played the ball back to Lukas Hradeckly who fluffed his lines and Hugo Ekitiké gave Frankfurt a lifeline heading into the second half.

Frankfurt looked a lot more energetic in the second half and did put some pressure on Leverkusen, but it was ineffective as Leverkusen soaked it up, before Die Werkself would counter, a Jeremie Frimpong cross is not cleared well enough and it lands to Aleix Garcia, whose long range effort is parried into the net by Kevin Trapp to make it 4-1.

After the fourth Leverkusen goal, all momentum and energy was sucked out of the game as both teams looked ahead to more important European fixtures in midweek, with Leverkusen traveling to Bayern for the Champions League round of 16 and Frankfurt travelling to Amsterdam to face Ajax in the Europa League.

Takeaways:

While the performance for Leverkusen may not have been completely perfect, the situation was. The fact that they were able to kill the game off very quickly meant that they could lower the intensity and turn their attentions to midweek. If Leverkusen can mimic this performance against Bayern on Wednesday, they will most likely win.

Apart from the blip in the first half, the reigning champions’ defence was very rarely challenged, on the wings Frimpong and Grimaldo easily got the best of their opponents. Xhaka and Garcia dominated the midfield battle, all this and Florian Wirtz did not even have to contribute with a goal or an assist this evening.

For Frankfurt, their consecutive losses to Bayern and Leverkusen show the gulf in class between them and the sides above them, but their poor form also means that they have to start looking over their shoulder. Mainz are only one point off of Die Adler while Freiburg can go level on points with them if they beat Augsburg tomorrow. One of the reasons for their slump is the fact that they have not kept a clean sheet since they beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in mid-January.

Eintracht Frankfurt XI:

Kevin Trapp (4), Rasmus Kristensen (5), Robin Koch (5), Arthur Theate (5), Ansgar Knauff (5), Ellyes Skhiri (5), Hugo Larsson (4), Nathanial Brown (5), Mario Götze (5), Elye Wahi (3), Hugo Ekitké (6)

Others: Oscar Højlund (5), Nmandi Collins (5), Michy Batshuayi (5), Jean Bahoya (5), Niels Nkounkou (5)

Bayer Leverkusen XI:

Lukas Hradecky (5), Nordi Mukiele (6), Jonathan Tah (6), Mario Hermoso (6), Jeremie Frimpong (6), Granit Xhaka (7), Aleix Garcia (7), Alejandro Grimaldo (6) Nathan Tella (7), Florian Wirtz (6), Patrik Schick (6)

Others: Amine Adli (5), Victor Boniface (5), Exequiel Palacios (5), Jonas Hofmann (-), Emiliano Buendia (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Aleix Garcia (7)

A hollow MOTM, a cop out, probably yes.

But, this was just a very strong team performance from Leverkusen. No individual truly stood out, arguments could be made for a few players to be the MOTM, in my opinion. So, to keep the FotMob and SofaScore ratings merchants happy, we will give it to Garcia.

The Spaniard, along with Xhaka, bossed the midfield. Usually, Garcia and Xhaka have struggled playing together as they are too similar stylistically, but today it worked. On the attacking front, Garcia created the most chances in the game (four) and he also scored the fourth goal.  The 27-year-old has struggled since joining from Girona in the summer and was never able to replicate his form, hopefully this performance will be the turning point.

Xhaka, as I mentioned, also put in a commanding performance and Mukiele, despite the mistake, was also a rock at the back and looks like a shrewd signing for Leverkusen this season. Maybe even their best.

GGFN | Jack Meenan