BUNDESLIGA PLAYER RATINGS | Eintracht Frankfurt 2-2 1.FC Köln – Köln come from behind to rescue a point as they continue their fight for survial | OneFootball

With both teams still with a lot to play for in the remainder of the season, Albert Riera’s Eintracht Frankfurt welcomed a new-look Köln to Deutsche Bank Park to round out Matchday 28 in the Bundesliga.

After Bayern’s late fightback at Freiburg on Saturday, Frankfurt had the chance to tighten their grip on 7th place, which may be enough for European football next season. Whilst Köln, now with René Wagner at the helm (until the end of the season at least), are beginning to come under increasing pressure in their efforts to stay in the Bundesliga.

Spaniard Riera made three changes to his last Bundesliga XI, in which his team were beaten 2-1 by Mainz. Nnamdi Collins and Jean-Mattéo Bahoya both missed out due to injury, whilst Farès Chaïbi was dropped to the bench for Sunday’s game. Robin Koch, Oscar Højlund and Ansgar Knauff came into a reshuffled Eintracht side. New Effzeh head coach, Wagner, made a total of four changes of his own from Kwasniok’s last Köln side, which drew 3–3 with local rivals Borussia Mönchengladbach.

The game began almost in disaster for the hosts as Michael Zetterer fumbled a snapshot from Jakub Kamiński into the path of the onrushing Ragnar Ache, but he recovered well to get up and save the rebound.

Frankfurt soon began to dominate possession and found a lot of success down the left-hand side through Arnaud Kalimuendo. Though their first real chance came after Hugo Larsson picked out Ansgar Knauff with a wonderful through ball, and despite being under significant pressure from Kristoffer Lund, the winger still forced a great save from Marvin Schwabe to keep the score level.

Köln were forced into playing on the counterattack, but they were comfortable with that approach and very nearly found the opener when Said El Mala twisted and turned past Koch and Aurèle Amenda on the edge of the box. The young winger created a yard of space and fired his effort just wide of the target.

The hosts continued to enjoy most of the ball but failed to make the most of the best chance of the game when Oscar Højlund sent Arnaud Kalimuendo through one-on-one with Schwabe. On his weaker left foot, though, Kalimuendo sent his shot straight at the Köln goalkeeper.

A first half full of chances still had time for one more at the other end, when El Mala broke through and picked out Kamiński. The Pole’s first touch let him down, however, and Zetterer did well to smother the ball before he could get a shot away.

The second half began in much the same vein as the first, with chances aplenty for either team, and before too long the game burst into life.

Frankfurt were the ones to break the deadlock on 65 minutes finally. Substitute Farès Chaïbi beat his markers before picking out Jonathan Burkardt just a couple of yards from goal, and the German marksman made no mistake, giving his side the lead with his 10th league goal of the season.

They doubled their advantage in double-quick time when goalscorer Burkardt crossed towards Amaimouni-Echghouyabe. The Spaniard couldn’t quite get the ball under control before it fell to Kalimuendo, who fired past Schwabe.

Almost immediately again, there was another goal, this time at the other end. Jakub Kamiński broke forward, cut inside, and beat two men before his deflected shot found its way past Zetterer to reduce the deficit to a single goal.

Köln had their tails up and were unlucky not to equalise when El Mala was played in by Ache. Zetterer excellently saved the 19-year-old’s shot. Köln refused to give upthough, and on 82 minutes Wagner made a triple change. It took just 34 seconds for two of the substitutes to combine and bring the visitor’s level. Lund’s cross to the back post was met by Marius Bülter, who picked out Alessio Castro-Montes in the danger area; the unchallenged Belgian had the simple task of poking home.

As the full-time whistle blew, both sets of players collapsed to the floor in exhaustion after what was a simply exhilarating second-half display. Both perhaps disappointed that they didn’t take all three points.

Eintracht Frankfurt 2-2 Köln | Player Ratings

Frankfurt:

Michael Zetterer (8) – Aurèle Amenda (5), Robin Koch (5), Arthur Theate (6) – Ansgar Knauff (6), Hugo Larsson (7), Oscar Højlund (6), Nathaniel Brown (6) – Ritsu Doan (6), Arnaud Kalimuendo (8) – Jonathan Burkardt (7)

Others: Farès Chaïbi (6), Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyabe (7), Mario Götze (6), Younes Ebnoutalib (-), Ellyes Skhiri (-)

Köln:

Marvin Schwabe (7) – Jan Thielman (6), Sebastian Sebulonsen (6), Rav van den Berg (5), Cenk Özkacar (7), Kristoffer Lund (6) – Tom Krauß (6), Denis Huseinbašić (6), Jakub Kamiński (8) – Ragnar Ache (7), Said El Mala (6)

Others: Ísak Bergmann Jóhannesson (6), Linton Maina (6), Luca Waldschmidt (-), Marius Bülter (-), Alessio Castro-Montes (-)

GGFN Player of the Match: Arnaud Kalimuendo (8)

A constant thorn in the side of Köln throughout the 90 minutes, Kalimuendo created 5 chances, and had a pass success rate of 97% (via Fotmob). The on-loan Nottingham Forest man deservedly grabbed his team’s second of the afternoon with a super finish past Marvin Schwabe.

GGFN | Harry Good