Frankfurt's Silva lining denies Bielefeld

Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Arminia Bielefeld
Goals: 0-1 Soukou (51'), 1-1 Silva (61')

Returning to the Bundesliga after an 11-year absence, Bielefeld could be forgiven for being a touch slow out of the traps. Sharper from the get-go, Frankfurt were desperately unluckly not to take the lead when Danny da Costa met Filip Kostic's clipped cross on the volley, only to send his bouncing effort narrowly wide. The visitors went closer still with their only first-half opening of note as da Costa deflected a Marcel Hartel corner onto his own post, but Frankfurt should arguably have gone in at the break with their noses in front. Bielefeld goalkeeper Stefan Ortega was guilty of playing an overly casual pass out from the back, which was picked off by Silva. The Portugal international exchanged passes with Bas Dost, but his back-heeled attempt was snuffed out by the recovering Ortega.

Frankfurt picked up where they left off as Martin Hinteregger directed a Kostic corner onto the crossbar and into the grateful arms of Ortega at the start of the second half. The deadlock was broken soon after, but Bielefeld hadn't read the script. Fabian Klos flicked on Ortega's long punt for Sergio Cordova, who spread a beautifully weighted pass into the path of Cebio Soukou. The Bochum-born Benin international pulled clear, and made no mistake with his finish into the bottom corner. Frankfurt levelled within 10 minutes, though, as Silva put his body on the line to steal a march on Anderson Lucoqui and head home from Dost. Hinteregger sent a header agonisingly wide as Eintracht turned the screw, but Arminia held their nerve to take a priceless point back to their Bielefelder Alm stadium.

• Silva was Frankfurt’s top scorer last season with 12 goals. He has now scored 10 goals in his last 16 Bundesliga outings.
• Soukou scored with his first touch. He is Arminia's first Bundesliga scorer since Artur Wichniarek found the net in a 2-2 draw with Hannover on 23 May 2009.
• Cordova (62 appearances) and Hartel (eight appearances) were the only players in the Bielefeld starting line-up with previous Bundesliga experience.
• Frankfurt's starting XI boasted 1561 Bundesliga matches combined.
• With an average age of 29 years and two months, it was Frankfurt's oldest starting line-up since January 2010.
• The teams have faced each other 27 times in Bundesliga history. Frankfurt have won 11 to Bielefeld’s six, with 10 draws.

Watch: Bielefeld's Cebio Soukou reflects on his debut Bundesliga goal

Frankfurt: Trapp - Abraham (c), Hasebe, Hinteregger - da Costa (Zuber 46'), Kohr (Barkok 46'), Rode (Ilsanker 76'), Kostic - Kamada (Chandler 88') - Silva, Dost
Unused subs: Rönnow, Sow, Toure, Tuta-Silva
Out: Ache (back), N'Dicka (ankle), Willems (knee)
Coach: Adi Hütter

Bielefeld: Ortega - de Medina (Brunner 13'), Pieper, van der Hoorn, Lucoqui (Laursen 72') - Prietl - Doan (Gebauer 72'), Soukou (Kunze 72'), Hartel, Cordova (Schipplock 81') - Klos (c)
Unused subs: Linner, Nilsson, Seufert, Consbruch
Out: Voglsammer (foot), Müller (muscular)
Coach: Uwe Neuhaus