Dōan at the double as Frankfurt go two-for-two in Bundesliga campaign | OneFootball

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim played host to Eintracht Frankfurt at the PreZero Arena in Sinsheim on Saturday afternoon. Both teams walked out of their opening matches last weekend as victors; Hoffenheim stunned Bayer 04 Leverkusen by a 2-1 result at the BayArena, while Frankfurt dominated SV Werder Bremen at Deutsche Bank Park with a 4-1 result, in Michael Zetterer's first match against his former club.

For Frankfurt, they look to win two matches to start a Bundesliga season for the first time since 2012/13, when the club went 4-0-0 in their first four matches and 5-1-0 in their first six. For Hoffenheim, it would have been the first time since 2020/21, when the club defeated 1. FC Köln and surprised FC Bayern München before ultimately losing to Eintracht Frankfurt.

The visitors won the coin toss and elected to kick off the match in possession; however, Hoffenheim would get the first dangerous opportunity at the seven-minute mark. A through ball from Umut Tohumcu reached Bazoumana Touré, but the Ivorian left-winger's ground pass towards Fisnik Asllani was intercepted by Robin Koch and cleared for a corner.

Nine minutes in, Michael Zetterer would run out of his net to clear a through ball to Fisnik Asllani away from danger; on the ensuing throw, the German-born Kosovar international would lift the attempt, but it was unsuccessful as he sent it over the bar and out.

Hoffenheim continued to put pressure on the Champions League side; Tim Lemperle would launch another opportunity from the left side of the Frankfurt penalty area in the thirteenth minute, but he could not get enough of an instep to launch the ball above Zetterer, and it rolled into the hands of the Munich-born goalkeeper quite easily.

Three minutes later, the visitors won a corner, lobbed in by Farès Chaïbi and sent towards the far-post; Robin Koch got just enough of the ball to power a header in Oliver Baumann's direction, but sent it just wide of the right post and out of play for a goal kick to the hosts.

Two minutes later, Hugo Larsson, on the right side of the Hoffenheim third, sent a short pass to his left in the direction of Ritsu Dōan; the Japanese international winger, with enough space at the edge of the box, would follow with a left-footed curling shot past Baumann and into the top-left corner. It was Dōan's first goal with his new side, after arriving from SC Freiburg in the offseason - with that, the visitors were ahead by a goal to none.

In the twenty-third minute, Elye Wahi would receive a through ball from Larsson, running into the right side of the Hoffenheim third and close to the penalty area; however, Robin Hranáč would slide to intercept the ball and send it out for a corner to the visitors. Chaïbi's ensuing cross was hit into the left side of the goal area, but nobody was there for what would have been an easy tap-in; it bounced out for a goal kick to Baumann.

25 minutes in, Rasmus Kristensen would win possession of the ball in the Hoffenheim half, and would send a long ball to Arthur Theate on the left side of the midfield; with a significant amount of space, Theate would run into the centre of the hosts' third before ultimately sending a through ball to Jean-Mattéo Bahoya. Bahoya's ensuing through ball went past both Czech defenders, Vladimír Coufal and Robin Hranáč, and landed to Ritsu Dōan, who tapped it in to double the lead. After a brief VAR check for offside on Bahoya, the goal would ultimately stand.

The hosts almost cut the lead back to one seconds after the restart, with Fisnik Asllani turning to break free of Robin Koch and Kristensen on the left side of the area; however, his follow-up opportunity was curled metres wide of the right post.

Chaïbi would create a brilliant opportunity for the visitors, that almost turned into three for Frankfurt at the 35-minute mark. He would run into the centre of the goal area, eventually sending a through ball past a diving Baumann and to a wide-open Wahi at the front of the goal; Wahi would bounce the ball on his left leg, but before he could get a sweeping kick to tap it over the line, Hranáč dove to perform a sliding tackle and clear the attempt away from danger.

Four minutes later, Hoffenheim thought they had a response on a quickly-taken free kick in the midfield. Andrej Kramarić's initial through ball went to Lemperle, who ran into the right side of the Frankfurt penalty area; Lemperle then passed short to Asllani in the centre, with Zetterer already beat. With no opposition, Asllani would easily tap the ball into the centre of the goal; however, the flag went up for offside on Lemperle, who was ahead of Kristensen, and the subsequent VAR review that followed made it certain.

Right before the end of the half, Bahoya would run into the left side of the Hoffenheim penalty area, but was denied by Baumann; the following counterattack was halted by Chaïbi, who stepped on Asllani to win possession back. For this, Timo Gerach had no other choice but to hand the Algerian international midfielder a yellow card.

That was the final play of the first half, as both teams went to the changing rooms with the visitors ahead by two goals to none. Statistically, Hoffenheim led the shot category 6-4, but Frankfurt had three shots on target compared to one from the hosts; possession was 55% to Hoffenheim, with an 84% pass accuracy on 230 passes compared to 79% on 196 passes.

Can Uzun, who was relatively silent in the first half, gave the Hessian side their first opportunity of the second half after just two minutes, getting past both Arthur Chaves and Hranáč before sending a weak shot towards the bottom-right corner, one that Baumann had no problem going down to deny.

Uzun would get his opportunity fifty-one minutes in, though. It was Dōan that set it up, running into the right side of the Hoffenheim half and receiving a long ball from Chaïbi in the midfield; Dōan would make his way into the box and pick out the 19-year-old Germany-born Turkish international, who lifted the ball above a charging Baumann and into the centre of the goal to triple the lead for Eintracht Frankfurt.

Frankfurt had two decent opportunities between the seventieth and eightieth minutes; Kristensen tried to pick out the top-left corner from the edge of the area, but that deflected off Baumann and past the left post, and Ansgar Knauff, who entered in the place of Bahoya a few minutes earlier, followed with another opportunity that went metres wide of the right post and out.

Hoffenheim would get on the scoreboard in the final minute of regular time, as Grischa Prömel's powerful shot from long-range was lifted above a leaping Zetterer and into the top-left corner. The final whistle would go shortly after, as Dino Toppmöller's side walked out with another three points, making them the only team with six out of six going into the Saturday evening match between FC Augsburg and FC Bayern München; the winning team from that match would join them at the top of the table.

For Eintracht Frankfurt (2-0-0, 1st), some of the players will be absent from training due to the international break, and after this, they will face Bayer 04 Leverkusen (0-1-1, 12th) in a crucial match between two Champions League sides on Friday, 12. September (20:30 CET). As for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (1-0-1, 10th), they will be visiting the capital to face 1. FC Union Berlin on Saturday, 13. September at the Alte Försterei (15:30 CET).