Beaten by Leverkusen

Eintracht succumbed to a 5-1 defeat at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Sunday evening. Hugo Ekitiké continued his recent rich vein of form with his third goal in as many games.

Granit Xhaka’s powerful opener was cancelled out by Ekitiké just after the half-hour mark, but Patrik Schick restored Leverkusen’s lead with a well-placed header shortly before the interval. Eintracht made a bright start to the second period, but penalties from Exequiel Palacios and Victor Boniface either side of Jeremie Frimpong’s close-range effort earned the Bundesliga champions a comfortable win.

Nkounkou and Chaibi restored

Eintracht head coach Dino Toppmöller made two changes to the Eagles team that lost 3-1 to Bayern Munich last weekend. Niels Nkounkou was preferred to Aurélio Buta, while Ansgar Knauff made way for Farès Chaibi.

Visitors edge entertaining first half

The Eagles made a lively start at Deutsche Bank Park, but Xabi Alonso’s team got their noses in front when Adam Hlozek teed up Xhaka to send a curling, left-footed effort past Kevin Trapp and into the far corner. Robin Koch prevented Leverkusen from doubling their advantage with a crucial block to deny Schick, and Trapp produced a fine save from Jonas Hofmann’s long-range drive as the visitors went looking for a two-goal cushion.

Toppmöller’s men appeared to be hanging on, but they equalised on 32 minutes when Chaibi’s perfectly weighted delivery was headed back across goal and into the far corner by Ekitiké. Omar Marmoush perhaps should have given the Eagles the lead when he blazed over the crossbar after being released by the young Frenchman, but Schick nodded Hlozek’s lofted cross past Trapp to restore Leverkusen’s advantage against the run of play.

Eintracht started the second half in similar fashion to the first, enjoying plenty of possession in the final third without properly testing Lukas Hradecky in the Leverkusen goal. Once again, however, it was Bayer who found the back of the net after Nkounkou brought down Nathan Tella inside the area, allowing Exequiel Palacios to stroke home from the spot. The Eagles almost pulled a goal back when Chaibi escaped his marker and sent a teasing ball across the face of goal, but the Algerian’s pass evaded everyone inside the area.

Leverkusen ended Eintracht’s hopes of salvaging anything from the game when Frimpong tapped home Hlozek’s cross at the end of a flowing move. VAR then awarded the visitors another penalty after alerting referee Christian Dingert to Knauff’s challenge on Frimpong, and Boniface made no mistake from the spot to complete the scoring.

Eintracht remain four points clear of seventh-placed SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga standings. Victory at Borussia Mönchengladbach next weekend would guarantee sixth spot and a place in the UEFA Europa League next season.