Eintracht Frankfurt have humiliated DSC Arminia Bielefeld 5-1 in a Bundesliga Matchday 18 fixture on Saturday. The match was played at Arminia’s SchücoArena behind closed doors due to the pandemic.

Bielefeld had impressed with a 3-0 win against VfB Stuttgart in a mid-week fixture earlier this week and they were hopeful to utilize the momentum of three unbeaten matches in a row. But head coach Uwe Neuhaus knew of the tough challenge ahead against a strong Frankfurt team. “Frankfurt plays a well-known system, which we had to cope with during the first leg game. It will be quite comparable to the first leg. I guess we will face more tension on our own possession against Frankfurt than we had to cope with against VfB, who slowed down and sat deep. Eintracht will permanently press forward and therefore we need to stay focused, avoid mistakes, take the right decisions and find solutions – even if we need to play long balls,” said Neuhaus at the pre-match video press conference.

On the other side, Eintracht Frankfurt head coach Adi Hütter was full of praise for Arminia: “Bielefeld are doing really well. They don’t score many goals but rarely end up on the losing side because they work very hard and concede few goals. We’re set for an intensive game. Ritsu Doan is very much their key player in terms of being creative, and in Fabian Klos they’ve got a goalscorer. Stefan Ortega is almost kind of a sweeper in goal, and he plays as many passes as anyone in their team.”

Frankfurt were in full command of the match right from kick off and the visitors enjoyed a great possession throughout the game.

André Silva opened the score sheet in the 25th minute, while Eintracht increased their lead just two minutes later when Filip Kostic found the back of the net with a powerful long-range shot.

Frankfurt continued to push forward and displayed a skillful game, which helped them to add another goal to their tally. André Silva scored his second goal of the day to hand his side a comfortable 3-0 lead against Bielefeld.

On the other hand, the home side didn’t surrender despite the deficit and reduced the margin in the 36th minute. Sergio Córdova headed a cross past Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp to give Arminia Bielefeld some hope to start a comeback.

But the hopes were shattered minutes into the second half when Arminia defender’s Joakim Nilsson attempt to clear a cross from the left side found its way to the own goal.

Luka Jovic sealed Eintracht’s win when he hammered a left-footed shot past Bielefeld goalkeeper Stefan Ortega Moreno.

DSC Arminia Bielefeld – Eintracht Frankfurt

Goals
0-1 André Silva (25′), 0-2 Filip Kostic (27′), 0-3 André Silva (33′), 1-3 Sergio Córdova (36′), 1-4 Joakim Nilsson (51′), 1-5 Luka Jović (75′)

Line-up

DSC Arminia Bielefeld
Ortega Moreno – Brunner, Pieper, Nilsson, Laursen – Kunze – Hartel (77′ Maier) – Doan, Yabo (46. Gebauer) – Córdova (59′ Seufert), Klos (77′ Schipplock)

Eintracht Frankfurt
Trapp – Tuta, Hinteregger, Ndicka – Durm (71′ Toure), Sow (77′ Hrustic), Hasebe (71′ Ilsanker), Kostic – Kamada (77′ Rode), Younes (65′ Jovic) – Silva

Bookings

Yellow Card
30′ Fabian Kunze (DSC Arminia Bielefeld)
39′ Evan Ndicka (Eintracht Frankfurt)
45’+2′ Amin Younes (Eintracht Frankfurt)
66′ Nils Seufert (DSC Arminia Bielefeld)

Match Officials

Referee
Robert Schröder

Assistant Referees
Jan Neitzel-Petersen, Robert Wessel

Fourth Offical
Patrick Ittric

Video Assistant Referee
Günter Perl

Assistant Video Assistant Referee
Thomas Gorniak