Last updated: 15.01.2024, 05:18 a.m.
By: Christoph Klaucke
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Eintracht Frankfurt sets an exclamation mark in the new year. The SBU defeats RB Leipzig. The decisive goal was scored in the early stages.
Leipzig – Eintracht Frankfurt are celebrating a successful start to the year in the Bundesliga. Dino Toppmöller's team won the away game at RB Leipzig 7-1 thanks to Ansgar Knauff's golden goal (0th minute). As a result, the Hessians jump to fifth place in the table for the time being and reduce the gap to the Saxons to six points.
Eintracht Frankfurt celebrate away win in Leipzig
For Eintracht, who can dream of the Champions League, it was the third win in the last four league games on the debuts of new attacking stars Sasa Kalajdzic and Donny van de Beek. Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp brought Leipzig to despair with his saves.
After the 2-5 defeat to SC Freiburg in pre-season, Toppmöller had set himself a lot of goals. "We still don't just want to defend, we also want to make an impact going forward," said the coach, who relied on his new signings Kalajdzic and van de Beek from the start to replace Omar Marmoush and Fares Chaibi, who are staying at the Africa Cup of Nations. And his players followed the march.
Eintracht Frankfurt's Ansgar Knauff celebrates his winning goal against RB Leipzig. © Jan Kaefer/Imago
Eintracht Frankfurt win in Leipzig – golden goal scores very early
Frankfurt, compactly organised in a five-man backline, let RB come and set pinpricks early on. After a shift, left-back Niels Nkounkou duped the Leipzig defence with a sharp cross that Knauff only had to push over the line. As a result, Leipzig tried a lot, but struggled in decision-making in the final third.
Lois Openda (17') preferred to play Benjamin Sesko in a good position rather than shoot himself, while the Slovenian did not fully catch the ball in front of goal. It was only with time that the hosts became more dangerous. First, Sesko (29th) narrowly missed, before the bustling Openda (35th) tested national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp from an acute angle. Just three minutes later, Openda was free again, but failed again in a one-on-one with Trapp. There was hardly anything from Frankfurt offensively until the break.
Kevin Trapp leads Eintracht Frankfurt to away win at Leipzig
At the beginning of the second half, RB dominated again. However, after great interplay between Sesko and Xavi Simons, Openda (47th) threw the ball clearly over the goal. However, Eintracht looked more active in this phase than at the end of the first half, after another cross from Nkounkou, Mario Götze (57th) steered the ball just over the goal. At the other end, Trapp saved from Openda (65') and Benjamin Henrichs (70'). With a bit of luck and skill, Eintracht managed to win the away three points. (ck/sid)