Victory in Stuttgart: Eintracht Frankfurt follow Leipzig in the cup final
Leipzig waiting for the final
Eintracht Frankfurt reached the DFB Cup final with a 3-2 win in a dramatic semi-final in Stuttgart. After VfB’s first goal, SGE fought back in the second half with a brace within minutes. In the end, the Swabians almost managed to make their comeback. At the end of added time, there was a disputed sanction decision against VfB.
Portugal’s Tiago Tomás put VfB, who suffered their first defeat in their sixth competitive game under coach Sebastian Hoeneß, ahead in the 19th minute. Goals from Frenchman Evan Ndicka (51st) and Japanese Daichi Kamada (55th) turned the intensive match in front of 47,500 spectators in the packed Stuttgart stadium in favor of the guests.
Scorer Randal Kolo Muani (77th) scored a penalty after a foul on himself to bring the score to 3-1. Enzo Millot’s goal in the 83rd minute created even more tension at the end. In the eventful final phase, Borna Sosa from Stuttgart receives a yellow-red card for repeated fault (86th). In 2018, the Frankfurters celebrated their last triumph in this competition. At that time, they beat FC Bayern Munich in the final.
Long VAR decision in added time: Bad luck for Stuttgart
In both teams, the beaten top scorers had won the race against time. At Eintracht, French vice-world champion Kolo Muani declared fit after adductor problems, Serhou Guirassy played for the hosts from the start after swelling in his eye.
Sportingly, the two forwards barely made an appearance at first, but Guirassy was shown a yellow card early in the ninth minute for a complaint. Before that, Frankfurt’s Mario Götze and Djibril Sow had each been cautioned by referee Daniel Schlager after a foul. The game was fiercely contested from the start, the many duels and nickels disrupted the progress of the game.
The first good attack put VfB in the lead: after a long ball from Waldemar Anton, national player Josha Vagnoman won the running duel against Evan Ndicka, the ball landed on the return pass and Tomás fired it into the near corner. Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp had speculated on the long corner and had no chance.
The goal gave the home team a lot of momentum. After around half an hour, however, burly Stuttgart defender Konstantinos Mavropanos was injured and Dan-Axel Zagadou replaced the Greek. The hitherto harmless Frankfurt tried to take advantage of this and increased the pressure a bit. But on the game side, the 2022 Europa League winner once again owed a lot. The Stuttgart team are now relying more and more on counter-attacks via their fast attacking players, including Silas just missing Trapp (35th).
In the second half, Eintracht manager Glasner brought in Aurélio Buta for captain Sebastian Rode, and he seemed to have given the right speech in the dressing room. The guests now played with much more conviction – and were rewarded with the double strike from Ndicka and Kamada. Glasner raised his fists on the sidelines, the relief clearly visible.
Stuttgart, who were meeting a Bundesliga club for the first time in the current competition, had to step up a gear offensively. But after an hour, VfB’s second centre-back Anton got injured and couldn’t continue playing. Even after the third goal, which was preceded by a foul by VfB goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow on Kolo Muani in the penalty area, the hosts did not give up and still managed to win the goal. After a long video study, referee Daniel Schlager did not award VfB a possible hand penalty in added time.
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