bundesliga

Eintracht Frankfurt banish home blues with victory against Bochum

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Eintracht Frankfurt registered their third straight win in all competitions with a come-from-behind victory against Bochum, with Daichi Kamada's third goal of the season helping to bring the Eagles to their first home points of 2022.

Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 VfL Bochum
Goals: 0-1 Polter 19' (assist: Stafylidis), 1-1 Masovic (o.g. 47'), 2-1 Kamada 52' (assist: Lindstrom)

Hoping to avoid an unwanted club first of five consecutive Bundesliga losses at home, Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner sent out the same starting XI that earned an impressive 2-1 triumph in Thursday's Europa League triumph away to Real Betis. Indeed, with Frankfurt having revived their hopes of finishing in one of the Bundesliga's European places with a big win at Hertha Berlin on Matchday 25, home hopes were high. Step forward Bochum, then, to rip up the early script by firing in the game's opening goal. Having scored against the Eagles on two prior occasions, Sebastian Polter made it a third when powering in a header from Konstantinos Stafylidis's set-piece. The visitors should have added a second soon afterwards when, following a wonderful build up, Takuma Asano found himself with only Kevin Trapp to beat. The goalkeeper came out on top to keep Eintracht in touch. At the other end, Armel Bella Kotchap came close to putting through his own net before Martin Hinteregger had an effort tipped over.

The question going into the second half for Frankfurt fans was, having seen their team go three straight games at home without scoring, where was any possible equaliser likely to come from? The answer came in the form of an Erhan Masovic own goal, the Bochum defender diverting in Jesper Lindstrom's shot. Having waited over five-and-a-half hours to see their team score at Deutsche Bank Park, Die Adler supporters were soon cheering two goals in six minutes when Kamada touched in after Filip Kostic, Ansgar Knauff and Lindstrom had been involved a flowing move. Bochum had boasted more wins (24) against Eintracht than any other team they faced in their Bundesliga history and although it looked unlikely they would add to that as time ticked on, the visitors might have snatched a draw but for a couple of Trapp saves, the goalkeeper denying Polter and Christopher Antwi-Adjei in quick succession to ensure Frankfurt took the spoils.

Match stats

  • Kamada scored for the first time at home this season.
  • The Japanese midfielder also put the Eagles 2-1 ahead in last Thursday's Europa League, round of 16 first leg win against Betis.
  • Polter's opening goal was his eighth of the season. He never previously managed more than five goals in a single campaign.
  • Bochum have now scored three own goals in their last four Bundesliga games.
  • The team's four own goals this season is a new record low for the club.
  • Bochum have scored 11 of their 28 goals this season from set plays.

Line-ups

Frankfurt: Trapp (c) - Tuta, Hinteregger, N'Dicka - Knauff, Jakic (Hrustic 87'), Sow, Kostic (Hauge 80') - Lindstrom (Lenz 72'), Kamada – Borre (Paciencia 87')
Unused subs: Grahl, Ilsanker, Lammers, Hasebe, Chandler
Out: Ache (hamstring), da Costa (pelvis), Ramaj (knee)
Coach: Oliver Glasner

Bochum: Riemann - Bockhorn, Masovic, Bella-Kotchap, Stafylidis – Osterhage (Pantovic 60'), Losilla (c), Rexhbecaj (Löwen 77') - Holtmann (Locadia 61'), Asano (Antwi-Adjei 60'), Polter
Unused subs: Grave, Tesche, Lampropoulos
Out:
Esser (not included), Gamboa (suspended), Leitsch (not included), Soares (not included), Zoller (knee) Blum (injured in warm-up)
Coach: Thomas Reis