PLAYER RATINGS | Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 VfB Stuttgart | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt vs VfB Stuttgart, the youngest teams and on their days the funnest teams in the league faced off, with the hosts running out 1-0 winners.

The best cliché way to describe the first half was that it was end-to-end. However, when it came to actual opportunities in front of goal, Frankfurt were by far the superior team. The hosts had the best chances of the first 45, first Hugo Ekitiké’s goal was ruled out for offside, then Jeff Chabot made a goalline clearance to keep Frankfurt out, before Maximilian Mittelstädt then also made a last-ditch clearance to stop Ansgar Knauff from scoring. Stuttgart, on the other hand, were far less potent in front of goal; their best chance of the half was a long-range strike from Atakan Karazor that was easily dealt with by Kaua Santos.

No changes at half-time, but the trend of the first half continued with Frankfur having the better chances in front of goal. Quite a few of these chances were from Stuttgart gifting it to them, either from Alexander Nübel’s poor playing out from the back, or the fact that they were too wide open. Stuttgart would have a man sent off when Ameen Al-Dahkil brought down Ekitiké in a last-man challenge. Nnmadi Collins and Mario Götze would both have good chances to open he scoring, but one effort was skyed and the other hit the crossbar.

Frankfurt would then get their deserved opener when a nice team move was finished off by Götze, who pounced on a Hugo Larsson shot that bounced off the post. After the opener, Stuttgart really struggled to drum up any meaningful chance to equalise, bar a Deniz Undav effort that was blocked by Theate.

The win for Frankfurt moves them up to third in the Bundesliga as they look to qualify for the Champions League. Today’s performance also showed the potential Frankfurt have going forward in the Bundesliga as well as in the Europa League this season. Die Adler are just a fun team to watch, and it showed today with their little tricks and flicks. Granted, they could have done a lot better in front of the goal, but that will come with time.

If the best possible Frankfurt turns up in each of their Europa League games, they will win the competition.

While for Stuttgart, it is looking increasingly likely that their best bet at European football next season will be winning the DFB-Pokal. They continue to be far too inconsistent to mount the necessary push for Europe. You and I both know the quality and potential they have. I am no Doctor, but I will be diagnosing them as suffering from second-season syndrome. This can also be seen with several of the players who were key in the second place last season, as Deniz Undav and Chris Führich have both struggled.

Improving areas of their squad in the summer would likely help, especially when it comes to someone who can partner and come close to matching the quality of Angelo Stiller in midfield.

Eintracht Frankfurt XI:

Kaua Santos (5), Tuta (6), Robin Koch (6), Arthur Theate (6), Rasmus Kristensen (6), Hugo Larsson (6), Mario Götze (7), Nathanial Brown (6), Ansgar Knauff (-), Jean Bahoya (6), Hugo Ekitiké (7)

Others: Nnamdi Collins (6), Ellyes Skhiri (-), Aurele Amenda (-), Farès Chaïbi (-), Oscar Højlund (-)

VfB Stuttgart XI:

Alexander Nübel (4), Ameen Al-Dahkil (3), Finn Jeltsch (5), Jeff Chabot (6), Maximilian Mittelstädt (6), Atakan Karazor (4), Angelo Stiller (5), Jamie Leweling (5), Enzo Millot (5), Chris Führich (5), Ermedin Demirovic (5)

Others: Nick Woltemade (5), Ramon Hendriks (5), Jacob Bruun Larsen (5), Deniz Undav (5), Luca Jaquez (5)

GGFN Man of the Match: Hugo Ekitike (7)

The Frenchman continues to show how unique he is. Everything good that Frankfurt created this evening saw Ekitiké at the centre of it. The striker drew the foul that led to the red card due to his trickery, and overall, the Stuttgart defence struggled to handle him. His finishing probably still needs to be worked on.

GGFN | Jack Meenan