Eintracht Frankfurt 1–1 VfB Stuttgart
Goals: 1-0 Kostic (79'). 1-1 Marmoush (88')
Red card: Anton (82')

The fans gathered in the Deutsche Bank Park enjoyed the late-summer sun as their Frankfurt and Stuttgart spent the early stages of the match sizing each other up and looking for weaknesses. The visitors nearly took an early lead through new man Marmoush, who did very well to carve his way through the Eintracht defence and force an excellent save from Kevin Trapp at the near post. All the best of what Frankfurt created came through Daichi Kamada, the Japan international showing his impressive vision and passing skills to create dangerous attacking opportunities. At the end of the first half, the scores were still level, with the home side having bossed possession and Stuttgart looking dangerous on the break.

When the teams returned from the dressing rooms, it was all very much as you were. That is, until the introduction of Kostic just before the hour mark. The Serbian winger’s impact was immediate. Within minutes, Frankfurt could have opened the scoring through new loanee Sam Lammers, or when a goalmouth scramble saw the ball ricochet off the Stuttgart crossbar. Kamada did manage to put the ball into the net, but the whistle had already gone, as the ball had taken a heavy deflection off the referee’s foot. Just as the home fans were starting to worry, up stepped Kostic to reward them for their affection. The winger collected the ball on the edge of the area and wasted no time putting his laces through it, driving a shot just inside the far post. Things looked to have gone from bad to worse for Stuttgart when Waldemar Anton was sent off for a foul just outside the area. However, despite their numerical disadvantage, the visitors did not give up. A miscued clearance from Martin Hinteregger saw the ball fall to Marmoush, who did very well to recover an initial blocked shot and slot the ball into an open net. Frankfurt nearly snatched all three points back when substitute Rafael Borre smacked a shot off the crossbar deep into added time. In the end, Stuttgart managed to hold on to record an excellent draw.

SGE Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt - VFB Stuttgart VfB Stuttgart

Kostic and Marmoush on target as Frankfurt and Stuttgart draw