Maximilian Beier breaks Eintracht Frankfurt resistance as Borussia Dortmund return to winning ways
Maximilian Beier scored a superb late winner as Borussia Dortmund recovered from back-to-back Bundesliga draws to beat Eintracht Frankfurt and climb to the top of the table.
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Eintracht Frankfurt
Goals: 1-0 Beier 80’ (assist: Bellingham)
Niko Kovač made just one change to the Dortmund side that started their midweek UEFA Champions League victory over Sabah, with Marcel Sabitzer coming in for Carney Chukwuemeka.
Eintracht Frankfurt, meanwhile, made two alterations from the team that beat Cologne 1-0 last Friday. Noëll Aséko and Elias Baum were brought into the side, with Mario Götze and Keita Kosugi dropping out.
Chances aplenty in goalless first half
Dortmund started the brighter of the two teams, with Serhou Guirassy forcing a smart save out of Noah Atubolu on the quarter-hour mark before being denied again three minutes later by the Frankfurt keeper, who did brilliantly to keep out the Guinean marksman's dinked effort.
Frankfurt grew into the game as the half progressed. Jonathan Burkardt fired narrowly wide with a low drive, while Younes Ebnoutalib was thwarted in a one-on-one with Gregor Kobel after Dortmund had failed to deal with a loose Eintracht pass.
Beier settles it
Frankfurt almost struck immediately after the restart as Farès Chaïbi's dipping effort forced another smart stop out of Kobel. Dortmund responded through Guirassy, whose header from a corner cannoned off the crossbar at the other end.
Kovač made a triple change on the hour mark, bringing on Beier, Ethan Nwaneri and Chukwuemeka. The breakthrough came in the 80th minute, when another substitute - Jobe Bellingham - cut the ball back to Beier, who curled a right-footed effort into the far corner past Atubolu.
The Eagles threw caution to the wind in search of a late leveller, but the hosts held on to claim a morale-boosting win ahead of next weekend's Klassiker against Bayern Munich.
Man of the Match: Felix Nmecha
Nmecha was voted Man of the Match on the back of an all-action performance at Signal Iduna Park.
The midfielder caused Frankfurt problems in the final third, testing Atubolu before half-time before having another shot blocked early in the second half.
At the other end, the Germany international covered every blade of grass in a bid to help Borussia over the line.
Bundesliga Match Facts
xGoals: Dortmund 1.36 - Frankfurt 0.92
Fastest player: Felix Nmecha (Dortmund), 35.21 km/h
Lowest goal probability: 1-0 by Maximilian Beier (Dortmund), 5 percent
Pass efficiency: Nico Schlotterbeck (Dortmund), 3.17
