Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
They are in the top spot for at least a day, and their passionate fans will have a great night after BVB saw off a stiff challenge from Eintracht.
After a relatively quiet first half, the game exploded in the second after being lit up by Abdou Diallo’s first goal for BVB. First, Sebastien Haller grabbed an equaliser before BVB came back with a vengeance through Marius Wolf and Paco Alcacer.
On this evidence, SBOBET fans of the Bundesliga have a great season to look forward to and these two teams will be right in the thick of it.
Highlights of the game
Eintracht started brightly, and Filip Kostic forced a save on six minutes with a low shot destined for the corner. And despite dominating possession, BVB failed to test the Eintracht keeper in the opening half-hour. But they plugged away and eventually, the chance came for the opener.
The goal arrived on 36 minutes when defender Abdou Diallo headed a Marius Wolf corner towards goal and then managed to scramble the ball home with his second attempt for his first BVB goal, following his £28m switch from Mainz. The Yellow Wall erupted and the Signal Iduna Park has a new hero.
With no Ante Rebic, Eintracht were a bit short of penetration in Dortmund’s half, and there was little to show at either end in the early exchanges of the second half. Lucien Favre made a change on the hour, bringing on his exciting young winger Jadon Sancho to replace the injured Jacob Bruun Larsen.
Adi Hutter responded by making an attacking double substitution, bringing on Jonathan de Guzman and Luka Jovic. That gave his side some impetus, and midway through the second half, they were level. And it was the in-form Sebastien Haller who fired into the bottom-left corner and beyond the reach of Roman Burki.
Then it was Favre’s turn to play his hand again, bringing on star man Axel Witsel, and the hosts were ahead again moments later. But it was the youngster Sancho who made the difference, putting in Marius Wolf to fire the ball home. Eintracht’s equaliser was wiped away within just four minutes.
The 2018 DFB Pokal Cup winners have plenty of fight and big-game players, and De Guzman quickly got into the game, winning a free-kick. But when the opening came, Kostic blasted high and wide.
And it was game over, on 88 minutes, when Paco Alcacer collected a corner outside the box and fired a beauty home low into the bottom-left corner to send the BVB fans wild.
Job done!
BVB are an ambitious club, and the Bundesliga 2018 odds give them a decent chance of interrupting the FC Bayern domination. This kind of performance, particularly the response to the equaliser, certainly bodes well for them.
Key statistics
An away draw with Hannover is the only setback so far for BVB, but at times it looked like they’d be frustrated again tonight. But the short odds of around 1.44 on a home turned out to be on the money.
BVB dominated the first half with 66 per cent possession, but there were very few chances at either end with only five shots in total between the two sides, three of which were for the hosts.
Eintracht saw more of the ball in the second half, but the shot count was firmly in BVB’s favour at ten to five, and crucially six to two on target.
That’s five wins and a draw in the last six games for Dortmund but four defeats in six for the Frankfurt club. They showed enough at the Signal Iduna Park, though, to suggest they’ll be at the right end of the table before too long, but they didn’t have enough to stop BVB getting the 25th win over Eintracht in 45 meetings.
What’s next?
Lucien Favre and his players will have one eye on the Bundesliga 2018 results that roll in over the weekend while they prepare for the week ahead.
Then BVB set off on the road and have two big challenges ahead. First, Favre will be keen to get his Champions League campaign off to a healthy start when his side heads to Belgium to visit Club Brugge. And then it’s back to Germany and off to Hoffenheim to take on another of the Bundesliga’s fancied teams.
Meanwhile, Adi Hutter’s Eintracht are in the Europa League which means Thursday football, and it’s a visit to the hotbed of Marseille before returning home to welcome another heavyweight to Frankfurt when RB Leipzig come to town.
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