34. Matchday (06.05.2012, 13:30 Uhr)

1 : 0

Karlsruher SC

  34. Matchday   2. Bundesliga

Eintracht Frankfurt

• Match report
• Formation
• Statistic
• Table
• Tickets
• Live-Ticker
• Pictures

0-1 Defeat Away To KSC

Eintracht ended the season with a 1-0 defeat away to Karlsruher SC. Charalambous scored the lone goal (9‘) which secured play-off spot 16 for the hosts. The Eagles did not find the right mentality to succeed in the last match of the campaign.

Eintracht manager Armin Veh made four changed to last matchday’s starting line-up: Alexander Meier, Sonny Kittel and Benny Köhler returned to midfield, Caio, Erwin Hoffer and also Sebastian Jung were left out, Sebastian Rode moved back to the right defender’s position replacing Jung and Heiko Butscher was in left defense for Constant Djakpa who was out with a match ban.

Early Initiative, Early Goal

The sell-out crowd of 26,780 saw the Eagles trying to get hold of the match early on with plenty of ball possession. A run by Rode into the box was stopped by KSC defender Rada with a challenge that could have led to a penalty, but referee Marco Fritz decided to play on.

As a result from the attack evolving from the situation KSC scored the lead. Iashvili and Schiek outplayed Schildenfeld and Butscher and Charalambous was at the end of Schiek’s low pass to finish from close range (9’).

Plenty Possession, No Power Up Front

Eintracht kept dominating the midfield with plenty of possession but they lacked the spark towards the front to create chances. It seemed that with having achieved promotion and the pressure being taken off their backs the players mentally struggled to put on a great performance.

Karlsruhe were defending focused and disciplined to keep their chances of staying in the league alive. And they came close to scoring the second after a few counter attacks – Iashvili, Aquaro and Terrazino all missed the target despite coming close. Only Schildenfeld had a chance in the first half to score for the Eagles when his header after a Köhler corner went just off target (42’).

Mirror After The Break

The second half looked pretty much like first with Eintracht controlling the match and KSC defending with passion. And again the hosts had chances to score on the break but Groß, Terrazino and Iashvili wasted them.

Kittel (63’) and Idrissou (72’) had opportunities for Eintracht but could not find the back of the net either. Korkmaz, Hoffer and Friend came on to support the attack of the Eagles, but Karlsruhe who seemed to become quite nervous towards the end of the match kept the clean sheet and won it after all.

Play-Offs & Promotion

While KSC was happy about achieving the play-offs to avoid relegation to 3. Liga (over two legs against Jahn Regensburg) the Eagles relieved their fans after all with their return to Bundesliga. Eintracht deserves to go up with the best attacking unit of the division (73 goals, 68 points) ranked in spot 2, and with Alex Meier being joint top scorer of the season (17 goals).

The fans did not mind the defeat in the season finale too much and celebrated the team at the town hall ‘Römerberg’ after their return to Frankfurt – 8,000 reportedly created a fantastic atmosphere to thank the team for a great season.

(TT / HR)