Götze strike earns home win | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt battled to a 1-0 win over VfB Stuttgart on Saturday evening, Mario Götze scoring after the visitors were reduced to 10 men.

Dino Toppmöller made two changes to his team from the 3-1 win at Bochum before the international break. Midfield duo Oscar Højlund and Ellyes Skhiri were not fit enough to keep their places in the starting line-up, so healthy-again Arthur Theate and Ansgar Knauff came in, with Tuta moving into a defensive midfield role.

Eintracht go closest

The Matchday 27 clash lived up to its top billing! Stuttgart made the brighter start at Deutsche Bank Park and tested Kauã Santos in just the second minute, but the Brazilian was equal to Jamie Leweling’s first-time effort. Five minutes later, Enzo Millot worked his way into the box but dragged his shot just wide of the near post. Eintracht got into the game more and did actually put the ball in the net on 13 minutes, but Hugo Ekitiké was clearly offside.

The biggest chance of the half arrived on 18 minutes, when Knauff rounded VfB goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, but Maximilian Mittelstädt, who initially lost out to Knauff, recovered and made an excellent sliding block to stop the ball going in. From the subsequent corner, Tuta’s header bounced off two Stuttgart defenders before Nübel clawed the ball off the line. Knauff was hurt in the original chance and had to be replaced by Nnamdi Collins a few minutes later.

The action quietened down after that, although Nathaniel Brown (with a deflected shot) and Collins (with a header) both went close for the Eagles before half-time.

Frustration turns to joy

Collins, playing in a more advanced position than usual, also had the first opportunity of the second half. Nübel gave the ball away after good pressure from Ekitiké and it came to Collins, but with the VfB goalkeeper out of position, the German U21 international couldn’t find the target. Ekitiké was causing the Stuttgart defence all sorts of problems and hit the post himself, with Mario Götze unable to keep the rebound down on the volley. Moments later, the Frenchman was pulled down by Ameen Al Dakhil, who was shown a straight red card for being the last man.

Now with a numerical advantage, Eintracht continued to push the visitors back into their own half, although they had to remain patient as well as alert to VfB’s threat on the counter. Leweling fired over after being teed up by substitute Nick Woltemade, but Frankfurt’s dominance eventually paid off in the 70th minute. Hugo Larsson’s effort was turned onto the post by Nübel, but Götze was in the right place for the rebound and made no mistake this time, tapping in his third league goal of the campaign.

Stuttgart responded and threw on more fresh legs, but the Eagles defended their goal valiantly, with Theate and Rasmus Kristensen both making crucial blocks. Collins even had two good chances to wrap up the three points in stoppage time, but it ultimately didn’t matter as Toppmöller’s men held on for a vital three points, which move them back up to third in the Bundesliga table.