Bundesliga
Eintracht Frankfurt's challenge for a place in Europe next season suffered a setback against relegation-threatened Greuther Fürth, who held the Eagles to a goalless draw at a sold-out Commerzbank Arena.
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-0 Greuther Fürth
Fürth packed numbers in behind the ball and broke when they could, like in the tenth minute when Havard Nielsen was able to carry the ball forwards and send in the first shot on Kevin Trapp's goal from just outside the penalty area. The German goalkeeper was then tested by a Branimir Hrgota effort, but Trapp came up trumps again in the one-v-one situation. For all of Frankfurt's attacking quality, they struggled to carve a way through the ranks of Fürth defenders, with Daichi Kamada, Jesper Lindstrom and Filip Kostic all being frustrated. Ansgar Knauff and Lindstrom finally gave Andreas Linde some work to do in the Fürth goal as the game entered into the final five minutes of a first half which the guests will have taken encouragement from, especially Linde, who denied Lindstrom again on the stroke of half-time.
Frankfurt doubled their efforts early in the second half and they already delivered three shots on goal in the first 10 minutes, as Fürth were forced even further onto the back foot. Linde continue to repel the Eagles, though, latching on seamlessly to the five fine saves he made towards the end of the first half with further stops from Lindstrom and Kamada, the latter subsequently giving way for Jens Petter Hauge as Oliver Glasner tried to shake things up in a bid to find the recipe for success. Goncalo Paciencia was also sent on, and he twice went close to breaking the deadlock, bringing yet another fine save out of Linde, who was single-handedly keeping Fürth in the game. A serious injury to Marco Meyerhöfer saw six minutes added on, but even with more minutes to play with, the hosts could not find a route to goal as they turn their attentions to facing Barcelona in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, having seen their bid to qualify for Europe again next season suffer a setback.
Frankfurt: Trapp - Tuta, Hasebe (c), N'Dicka - Knauff, Jakic (Rode 84'), Sow, Kostic - Lindstrom, Kamada (Hauge 69') – Borre (Paciencia 59')
Unused subs: Grahl, Ilsanker, Hrustic, Lammers, Toure, Chandler
Out: Hinteregger (suspended), Lenz (calf), Ramaj (knee)
Coach: Oliver Glasner
Fürth: Linde - Meyerhöfer, Bauer, Viergever, Willems (Asta 84') - Raschl (Green 66'), Christiansen, Tillman, Itter - Nielsen (Leweling 56') - Hrgota (c) (Pululu 84')
Unused subs: Burchert, Abiama, Ngankam, Fobassam, Jung
Out: Dudziak (Achilles), Funk (knee), Griesbeck (ill), Kehr (knee), Seguin (calf)
Coach: Stefan Leitl