It was a match where SCF had to do a lot of defending. Frankfurt were on the charge from the first whistle, and in-demand striker Omar Marmoush showed after just three minutes why he’s been turning heads across the world of football. He cut into the penalty area from the left and took on a shot with his right foot. Noah Atubolu wasn’t tested, but SC had been given an early warning.

Freiburg, who started with the same side who faced Kiel, were defensively strong and had a lot of space to attack after winning the ball back, but couldn’t turn this into goals. Instead, Eintracht had their second chance of the match in the 14th minute, when Mario Götze let fly from the right side of the box. Atubolu was there to keep it out.

An eventful end to the first half

Frankfurt had more than 60 percent possession in the first 20 minutes, but SCF were compact and left very little space for the opponents to exploit. SGE did though start to make some progress into the Freiburg box. Hugo Ekitiké’s shot was deflected wide for a corner, after which Götze took on the strike, but Matthias Ginter cleared it almost off the line (26’).

In the final stages of the first half, SC showed more courage, and got out of their own half when Ritsu Doan led an attack down the right wing. Eren Dinkci found Merlin Röhl, who beat his man with a little turn of pace. He then played an excellent low ball into the six-yard box, and Doan arrived to prod home and give Freiburg the lead (37’). You could call it out of nothing, or you could call it perfect efficiency.

“We scored a goal by doing exactly what we had planned to do in this match. We were brave and got our reward,” said Julian Schuster after the game. “That made it even more disappointing when we conceded the equaliser.” His team held onto their lead for exactly six minutes. Robin Koch levelled when he headed home Marmoush’s corner (43’). Soon after, Ekitiké had two chances to make it 2-1, but firstly hit the side netting before shooting centimetres wide of goal (45’).

Frankfurt power forward

Straight after half time, Marmoush looked to make sure that everyone was alert. The striker found himself in on goal after getting on the end of a long ball. He couldn’t get it under control, but still forced Atubolu into a save from a tight angle (46’). Nathaniel Brown was then also denied by Atubolu four minutes later from a similar position. Max Rosenfelder had to intervene to nick the ball away from an opponent after Brown’s dangerous low cross. The match was now more like how it had been in the first half hour. Frankfurt were piling on the pressure, camping out on the edge of Freiburg’s penalty area and creating opportunities. Marmoush had another go, but Atubolu saved again.

It wasn’t until the 60th minute that SCF were able to come forward again themselves, and they did create another good chance. Vincenzo Grifo played it into Christian Günter on the left. The captain hit it first time, but Kevin Trapp made the save. Three minutes later, Grifo himself tried his luck from around 22 yards out, but Trapp was there once more.

No let-up from Frankfurt

This was just a brief moment of respite. Eintracht hit back when Omar Marmoush made it 2-1 in the 65th minute. Rosenfelder blocked his first effort, but his second could not be kept out. Atubolu stopped another big opportunity for the hosts in the 68th minute. In the 73rd minute though, Freiburg’s number 1 was left with no chance. Ekitiké finished off a counterattack to make it 3-1. Frankfurt now had control of the game, and were in no mood to let up. Nnamdi Collins netted a fourth in the 81st minute.

That was the final blow for SC at the Deutsche Bank Park. Maximilian Eggestein said: “We let ourselves be pinned back too much in the second half. We just couldn’t get out and deserved to lose.” At the press conference after the game, the head coach added: “I have to say that overall, we weren’t good enough with or without the ball to get anything here.” SCF will be looking to get some more points on the board in the Bundesliga when they travel to Stuttgart on Saturday (15:30 CET).

Photo: Achim Keller