PLAYER RATINGS | St.Pauli 0-0 Eintracht Frankfurt – Points shared as St.Pauli move four points clear of 17th | OneFootball

Sunday afternoon bought Alexander Blessin’s St.Pauli an opportunity to extend the gap over the relegation zone after Wolfsburg’s defeat to Hamburg on Saturday. Die Kiezkicker played host to Eintracht Frankfurt, who, with a win, would keep their faint hopes of a top-six finish alive.

St.Pauli came into this one in great form, winning three of their previous four fixtures and notably unbeaten in five matches at the Millerntor. The visitors, meanwhile, have been in indifferent form since the winter break, resulting in the sacking of Dino Toppmöller. Since Albert Riera’s arrival, things have improved, with the side only suffering defeat at the hands of league leaders Bayern Munich.

Blessin largely stuck with the side that surprised Hoffenheim last weekend, with January signing Tomoya Andō coming back in to replace Karol Mets. Reira made two changes of his own, one enforced with Michael Zetterer replacing the injured Kauã Santos, and Mario Götze making way for Farès Chaïbi.

After a pretty end-to-end opening stanza, the first real opportunity of the game fell the way of Mathias Pereira Lage, who volleyed goalwards following a goalmouth scramble. Unfortunately for the former Portugal youth international, his effort rattled the frame of the goal. St.Pauli continued to up the pressure on Eintracht and once again struck the post, this time through a long-range effort from Daniel Sinani.

The remainder of the opening half petered out with little in the way of goal-scoring opportunities; the hosts did very well to nullify the threat of Die Adler’s attack.

Eintracht began the second half in stark contrast to the first and could have taken the lead just seconds in when Jean-Mattéo Bahoya was set through on goal by Oscar Højlund. The winger’s effort was well saved, however, by Nikola Vasilj.

Midway through the second period, Pauli’s January acquisition Andō was fortunate to avoid a second booking after fouling Chaïbi on the edge of the box. Chaïbi sent the resulting free kick high into the away sector of the Millerntor, and Andō would be withdrawn by Blessin moments later.

Eintracht continued to enjoy the better of the play in the second half but struggled to make any meaningful inroads on the St.Pauli goal.

The game would end goalless, with the hosts likely the happier of the two teams come full-time. A point does very little for Eintracht in terms of bridging the gap to the teams above them.

St.Pauli 0–0 Eintracht Frankfurt | Player Ratings

St.Pauli:

Nikola Vasilj (6) – Tomoya Ando (5), Hauke Wahl (6), Eric Smith (7) – Manolis Saliakas (6), Jackson Irvine (6), James Sands (6), Arkadiusz Pyrka (7) – Mathias Pereira Lage (6), Joel Chima Fujita (6), Daniel Sinani (6)

Others: Lars Ritzka (6), Adam Dźwigała (6), Connor Metcalfe (-)

Eintracht Frankfurt:

Michael Zetterer (6) – Nathaniel Brown (7), Aurèle Amenda (7), Robin Koch (7), Nnamdi Collins (7) – Farès Chaïbi (6), Hugo Larsson (6), Oscar Højlund (6) – Arnaud Kalimuendo (6), Jonathan Burkardt (6), Jean-Mattéo Bahoya (6)

Others: Ritsu Doan (6), Love Arrhov (-), Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyabe (-)

GGFN Man of the Match | Aurèle Amenda (7)

In a game where very few chances presented themselves to the forwards, the defences dominated. Aurèle Amenda stood out with a total of 11 defensive contributions and six duels won (via Fotmob).

GGFN | Harry Good