Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Borussia Dortmund: Winners and Losers from Bundesliga
Eintracht Frankfurt beat Borussia Dortmund 1-0 on Matchday 33 of the 2015/16 Bundesliga season on Saturday.
The win is a huge boost to the Hessians' chances of staying up, as they have now jumped over Werder Bremen and out of the drop zone.
Stefan Aigner scored the only goal of the game in the 14th minute. His Frankfurt side came out all guns blazing and had two earlier chances to take the lead. Dortmund looked flat out of the gates and were left chasing the game for more than an hour.
Dortmund had all the possession and were very dominant, as head coach Thomas Tuchel said after the game, per local paper Ruhr Nachrichten (link in German), but never got into their usual rhythm.
When Mats Hummels left the pitch in the 65th minute, he alone had played more passes than the entire home team, per stat provider Opta on Twitter.
But the Black and Yellows created very few clear-cut scoring opportunities. They found the net through Hummels once, but the team captain was incorrectly ruled to have been in an offside position when Nuri Sahin played a long pass into the penalty box.
It was one of these days where it felt like Dortmund would still not have scored a goal even if the game had gone on for another two hours.
It didn't matter much for the visitors, as Bayern Munich won 2-1 against Ingolstadt and clinched their fourth consecutive Bundesliga title.
Dortmund's first league defeat of 2016 was much bigger for Frankfurt, who now hold the keys to their survival on the last matchday when they'll travel to Bremen in a true six-pointer.
Here, Bleacher Report picks the winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Stefan Aigner
1 of 5
Scoring the only goal of a vital win against overwhelming favourites usually earns you a spot on this list, and Stefan Aigner is no exception.
The 28-year-old winger's goal was a beatiful header—the "best header all season" if you ask Deutsche Welle's Jonathan Harding.
Apart from that, Aigner embodied Frankfurt's spirit on the day, throwing himself into every duel as if it was his last—the midfielder committed a whopping five fouls.
Aigner has only scored three goals this campaign so far, but all three were hugely important winners, with one coming against Bremen in the first half of the season and now twice in a row against Darmstadt and Dortmund.
Loser: Erik Durm
2 of 5
Tuchel took Erik Durm off the field at half-time. He had seen enough.
Not only was Durm unable to stay with Aigner in the box when Makoto Hasebe whipped in his cross before the lone goal of the day, but Dortmund's right back generally didn't have a good game.
The Germany international had next to no impact from his right side of the pitch, offering no runs to the winger playing in front of him and losing the ball a number of times because of his lacking technique.
With Germany coach Joachim Low in the stadium, Durm didn't put in a great application for a spot in the squad for UEFA Euro 2016 in France next month.
Winner: David Abraham and Marco Russ
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Head coach Niko Kovac praised his team's hard work and character after the game, per Ruhr Nachrichten (link in German), and his two centre-backs David Abraham and Marco Russ exemplified that attitude.
Building the heart of a massive five-man defence—it became a six-man defence later—the two defenders had brilliant games against Dortmund's impressive strike force.
Both blocked one shot, with Abraham's block against Henrikh Mkhitaryan especially vital seeing as the goal was open for the Armenian, and had a number of clearances and interceptions.
Dortmund tried to break Frankfurt through the middle early on and later crossed the ball into the middle again and again, but Abraham and Russ were always waiting.
Loser: Daniel Siebert
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It's always disappointing when refereeing decisions take centre stage, but especially so in the relegation battle. With so much at stake for a number of clubs, one bad call can make all the difference.
One such bad call occurred in this match, and it went in favour of Frankfurt. As this picture shows, Hummels clearly was level with Abraham before his goal moments before the half-time whistle. The linesman let down referee Daniel Siebert, but the 32-year-old didn't have his best day, either.
He struggled judging duels, often blowing his whistle after minimal contact. In the second half, he whistled away Dortmund's biggest chance of the game—a Hummels header Frankfurt goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky brilliantly parried onto the crossbar—after Russ seemed to stumble on his own.
Frankfurt deserve credit for defending very well against Dortmund, and the Black and Yellows have themselves to blame for their loss, but Siebert played a big role in the relegation battle, no doubt about that.
Winner: Niko Kovac
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Is wasn't pretty, again, but it worked—again.
Niko Kovac's Frankfurt side have now won three in a row after looking dead in the water in April. It's to the Croat's credit that the Eagles have a very good chance at staying up.
After the game, Kovac said, per the club on Twitter (link in German), that Frankfurt would win one of 10 matches against Dortmund at the moment, and Saturday's match had to be the one.
And it looked like his team believed in their chances right from the get go. Frankfurt had the right mentality for a clash against Dortmund, coming out with a lot of energy early on and overwhelming the favourites, if you like.
Once they went ahead, the Hessians retreated and defended very calmly, always having numbers in their own defensive third.
If they show the same spirit on the final matchday, Frankfurt will be alright.
Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
