Anyone who has even a nanogram of doubt about the ambition of striker Xavi Simons should have seen the player after Leipzig’s 1-0 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Because the term “disappointment” was no expression at all for what was evident on his face as he left the pitch. It looked more like sheer anger. Not that Leipzig had to be counted among the narrowest circle of favorites for the title before the game. But one or two of them did dream, and the 20-year-old is definitely one of them.
Now the first half of the season is over and Leipzig are in fourth place with 33 points and are therefore on target. But the gap to league leaders Bayer 04 Leverkusen – who will be visiting Leipzig next Saturday – is now twelve points. And the Frankfurters have already moved up to six points thanks to their first win on Leipzig ground.
“I don’t know whether the victory was deserved,” says Kevin Trapp
Leipzig coach Marco Rose took refuge in fatalism after the game. “Football is a bit like life: you just need a bit of luck,” he explained, referring to the numerous chances his team missed. Despite all the joy, this game also aroused a feeling of humility in the Frankfurt camp. “I don’t know whether the victory was deserved,” said Frankfurt’s national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, remarkably soberly, who made some first-class saves and yet emphasized that the victory was not achieved by him alone. Which was true because Trapp was not directly involved in the opening goal, which would become the winning goal.
He fell after just seven minutes and following an attack that had a curious charm in its simplicity: “It was a picture-perfect attack,” enthused Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmöller. Niels Nkounkou, who is only phonetically reminiscent of the former Leipzig player Christopher Nkunku, but who is more than just a solid left-back at Eintracht, moved on the left side and played a pass from the Leipzig half-field, which Trapp rightly ” called “beautiful”. It had just the right timing and the perfect spin. Because of the arc that the ball described, goalkeeper Janis Blaswich and defender Mohamed Simakan had no chance to intervene. On the right side, Knauff disappeared from the radar of DFB defender David Raum, so he was able to finish at full speed to make it 1-0.
Kevin Trapp remained the winner in the duel with Leipzig’s Lois Openda.
(Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa)
The goal thawed the people of Leipzig in the icy winter wind. They attacked and created chances; they were due to individual verve. Alone: The strikers’ visors appeared to be fogged up. This was particularly true for Benjamin Sesko, who can hope for longer playing times now that Timo Werner has moved on to Tottenham Hotspur in London. After a perfect assist from Loïs Openda, Sesko didn’t hit the ball correctly (17th minute) and missed the chance to equalize from the best position. In the 29th minute, the Slovenian missed again clearly. Openda then also had the best opportunities – especially when he appeared alone in front of Trapp after a pass from Simakan and failed in a one-on-one.
The fact that it didn’t seem to be Openda’s day was evident shortly after the restart. Xavi Simons made his way to the baseline in the penalty area and passed the ball back to Openda, but the Belgian shot the ball over the goal from seven meters. It was the overture to an increasingly interesting and intense exchange of blows.
At RB, North Macedonian entry Eljif Elmas can play a few more minutes
Frankfurt pushed and only had big chances through the new Dutchman Donny van de Beek (56th) and Mario Götze (57th) – Götze, by the way, also after a sharp cross from Nkounkou. The Leipzig team then forced Eintracht goalkeeper Trapp to make two brilliant interventions. First he parried a spectacular header from Openda, then he directed a low shot from Benjamin Henrichs towards a corner.
After a good hour, Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller ended the solid season debuts of winter signings Donny van de Beek and Sasa Kalajdzic (and brought in Aurelio Buta and Jessic Ngankam); His Leipzig colleague Marco Rose replaced Baumgartner and Sesko with Dani Olmo, who recently had a shoulder injury, and Yussuf Poulsen. Minutes before the end of the game, Rose also brought in North Macedonian signing Eljif Elmas, previously from SSC Napoli. This was supposed to be the signal for a final rebellion against the impending home defeat. But no matter how much Leipzig besieged Frankfurt’s penalty area, it remained 0-1, which left Xavi sulking.