Tradition-conscious fans probably saw it coming: When Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund have dueled in the recent past, a real spectacle has resulted, especially in Frankfurt’s city forest. In this respect, the 3:3 between these two high-reach brands followed an almost familiar pattern. Enough goals, lots of excitement – and a debate that added a new punch line to the interaction between referee and video assistant.
This all happened exactly a year ago on the last weekend in October, when the Westphalians happily won against the Hessians. This time goals came from Omar Marmoush (8th and 24th minute/hand penalty) and Fares Chaibi (68th) for Eintracht and Marcel Sabitzer (45th), Youssoufa Moukoko (55th) and Julian Brandt (82nd) for BVB a performance-based draw.
This afternoon, two teams that had previously been very strong in defense did not take it too seriously when it came to a reliable defensive stance, although the 56,500 eyewitnesses were particularly impressed by the offensive qualities in a sometimes wild exchange of blows. Before the classic against FC Bayern Munich next Saturday evening, Borussia Dortmund would have liked to win, but not having lost the encounter in Frankfurt was worth a lot given the discussion about a key scene from referee Robert Schröder.
“I have very mixed feelings. We can’t complain about the game ending in a draw,” said BVB coach Edin Terzic. Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller found himself in a similar dilemma: “For any neutral spectator, it was a fantastic football game. I think we deserved a bit more. We posed real problems for an absolutely top team.”
Even the people of Dortmund are amazed at the referee’s decision
First, Marmoush converted a hand penalty awarded according to video evidence to make it 1-0 and made it 2-0 with an exemplary counterattack before the Egyptian, who has now scored eight competitive goals this season, beat BVB goalkeeper Alexander Meyer (35th). Referee Schröder initially allowed the game to continue, but video assistant Bastian Dankert intervened because the substitute keeper who came on for the injured Gregor Kobel had only touched the opponent’s foot. But the referee stuck to his decision after a long video study, which surprised even the people of Dortmund. “I’m touching something,” admitted Meyer, who spoke of “a bit of luck” in that situation. BVB defender Nico Schlotterbeck became clearer: “You can’t complain in the game if he gives a penalty.”
This inevitably brought back memories of the game almost exactly a year ago. At that time, the referee Sascha Stegemann was left in the lurch after a check process in the Cologne basement that was stopped too early when Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi pushed over Frankfurt’s Jesper Lindström. This was followed by television appearances by Stegemann and debates about the VAR, the involvement of which was completely questioned by the Frankfurt manager Markus Krösche, who was very angry at the time. This time the sports director presented his criticism in a calm voice: “That was a clear penalty. The marble goal greets you every day.”
What was more important to him was that Eintracht was now seeing development under his dream coach, Toppmöller. “We are on the right track and have also passed the test in possession of the ball.” The Hessians could have lost their way when Marcel Sabitzer and substitute Youssoufa Moukoko equalized with well-considered low shots. But BVB failed to take advantage of the 2-2 draw on Sunday: when substitute Julian Brandt carelessly lost the ball with a backheel and left-back Rami Bensebaini made a foolish positional error, Chaibi gave the home team the lead again. A feint from Moukoko and Brandt’s quick thinking then led to 3-3, with the guests well served against in-form Frankfurt.