Eintracht Frankfurt win to leave Hamburg on the brink on relegation

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Eintracht Frankfurt beat second-bottom Hamburg to leave the Dinos needing to win their final game of the season against Borussia Mönchengladbach next week to have any chance of avoiding being relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time.

Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 Hamburg

Goals: 1-0 Wolf (31'), 2-0 Mascarell (77'), 3-0 Meier (90+1')

Frankfurt almost made a dream start, with only a last-ditch Gideon Jung challenge denying Sebastien Haller a certain goal inside the opening minute. Hamburg responded well, and were celebrating in the 25th minute when Tatsuya Ito calmly tucked away Aaron Hunt's slide-rule pass, only for match referee Deniz Aytekin to rule the effort out for offside following consultation with the VAR. To make matters worse for the cellar-dwelling visitors, Marius Wolf toe-poked Haller's clever through-ball between the legs of Julian Pollersbeck to give Frankfurt the lead six minutes later.

Christian Titz threw caution to the wind by throwing on Luca Waldschmidt and Filip Kostic for the start of the second half. HSV dominated for long spells and began to find some joy in the final third as Lukas Hradecky thwarted Bobby Wood from close range. The big Finn was up to task moments later, tipping a Douglas Santos thunderbolt onto the post, with Lewis Holtby's follow-up rightly disallowed for offside. HSV's survival battle was dealt a hammer blow when Omar Mascarell drove in Frankfurt's second with the aid of a deflection. Substitute Alex Meier scored in injury time to leave the Red Shorts two points adrift of relegation play-off incumbents Wolfsburg going into the final weekend.

Match stats

    Wolf has scored five Bundesliga goals, including one in both games against Hamburg this season.Mascarell scored his first Bundesliga goal.Frankfurt defender Carlos Salcedo made his first appearance since Matchday 26, following injury.Hradecky made his 100 Bundesliga appearance - likely his last at the Commerzbank-Arena, ahead of a probable summer move elsewhere.Nicolai Müller returned to the Hamburg bank for the first time in 259 days, when he ruptured knee ligaments celebrating his goal against Augsburg on Matchday 1.HSV are the only founding Bundesliga member never to have been relegated from the top flight.

Line-ups

Frankfurt: Hradecky – Chandler (Russ 17'), Abraham (c), Salcedo – Da Costa, Fernandes, Mascarell, Willems – Wolf (Gacinovic 67'), Boateng – Haller (Meier 87')
Unused subs: Zimmermann, Jovic, Fabian, Meier, Tawatha
Absentees:, Hasebe (suspended), Rebic (hamstring)
Coach: Niko Kovac 

Hamburg: Pollersbeck – Sakai (c), Papadopoulos, Jung, Douglas – Steinmann – Ekdal (Waldschmidt 46'), Holtby, Hunt, Ito (Kostic 46') - Wood
Unused subs: Mathenia, van Drongelen, Jatta, Müller, Salihovic
Absentees: Mavraj (not considered), Walace (not considered)
Coach: Christian Titz

As it happened