Borussia Dortmund v. Eintracht Frankfurt: The Complete Post Match Review

Match Overview

Borussia Dortmund stretched their unbeaten run to four games with a dominant, if not spectacular, 3-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in Sunday's Topspiel. A sell-out crowd witnessed a solid performance from Borussia Dortmund that will temporarily ease the pressure on coach Edin Terzić.

Team News

The late withdrawal of Gregor Kobel meant that Alex Meyer returned between the posts for the home team.

Veteran Marco Reus was recalled to the starting eleven after his match sealing goal against PSV in the Champions League. There are quite a few links between the teams with ex-BVB players Nnamdi Collins, Ansgar Knauff and Mario Götze all featuring in the matchday squad for Eintracht Frankfurt.

First Half

It was the one-time darling of Dortmund Mario Götze who opened the scoring against the run of play after 13 minutes to stun the Signal Iduna Park crowd into silence. A clearance from the Eintracht area found Schlotterbeck and Hummels getting under each other feet, allowing Omar Marmoush run at Alex Mayer.

Mayer saved Marmoush's shot but the ball fell to Götze and he skilfully tucked the ball inside Mayer's left hand post. Götze has a habit of scoring against Dortmund and he was respectful with very muted acknowledgment of the goal. Götze has thrived at Eintracht and he intelligence and work with the ball was in evidence throughout the game.

Dortmund continued to dominate the game in terms of possession and shots, despite what the scoreboard said. Donny Malen has been BVB's most threatening attacker this season and he was instrumental in creating the equalizer. Malen was picked out by a cross field ball by Nico Schlotterbeck and his powerful run past Niels Nkounkou enabled him to fizz a ball across the six yard box and pick out Karim Adeyemi who had the simplest of tap-ins on 33 minutes. If Götze's celebration was muted, Adeyemi's was strangely subdued. Dortmund deserved to level the game and went into the break looking confident.

Second Half

The second half continued in much the same vein. Dortmund pressed and looked for a goal to give them the lead while Eintracht remained disciplined and coped with what Dortmund threw at them.

It took until the 81st minute for the breakthrough to come. A free-kick on the right-hand side was met by a stooping Mats Hummels and the veteran header beat the despairing Kevin Trapp in Eintracht's goal.

Then came the ubiquitous VAR controversy. Emre Can was shown a straight red-card for a lunging tackle on Ellyes Skhiri. Dortmund protested and VAR showed that Can had played the ball before making contact with the Eintracht midfielder. Can's red was downgraded to yellow.

As the game went into injury time Jamie Bynoe-Gittens burst into the box and was caught by Robin Koch. A penalty was awarded and dually dispatched by the earlier reprieved Emre Can.

Post-Match Thoughts

A 3-1 victory was a fair result given the possession enjoyed by the home team (67%-33%) and the number of shots (16:9). It was a swashbuckling win, but Dortmund wins rarely are these days.

Emre Can said in his post match interview "It's unbelievable sometimes in Dortmund. Things always seem so negative from the outside," Can said, adding, "We're in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, we're fourth in the Bundesliga and third in the Rückrunde table. Sometimes when you read in the media it feels like we've lost the last ten games. But the mood in the team is good."

Indeed, only Bayer Leverkusen (25 points) and VfB Stuttgart (22 points) have bettered Dortmund's return of 20 points thus far in the Rückrunde. They have only conceded seven goals, of which three came in the game against TSG Hoffenheim.

Across the whole season their goals conceded is comparable to all the teams around them apart from the almost impenetrable Bayer Leverkusen. So why is there such a sense of negativity in the media and amongst sections of the against weaker teams and the upcoming fixtures are challenging to say the least.

What is next for Borussia Dortmund?

First up after the international break is a trip to Munich to face Bayern. A home fixture against Stuttgart follows. After facing Gladbach, Dortmund then face runaway leaders Leverkusen and RB Leipzig in what is likely to be the decisive game in the battle for the fourth Champions League spot.

A solitary point against Leverkusen was all Dortmund had to show from their four matches against Top 5 opponents in the Hinrunde. Throw in two matches against Atletico Madrid in the quarter finals of the Champions League and April looks a pivotal month in Borussia's season.

What is next for Eintracht Frankfurt?

For the visitors the game did not influence their league position. With a gap to fifth placed RB Leipzig of nine points and five ahead of Augsburg directly below them, Eintracht Frankfurt look like the best of the rest and Dino Toppmöller's side look most likely to qualify for the Europa League. Quality-wise the gap between Eintracht and the Top 5 is clear to see on this performance but there are many teams in the Bundesliga who would like to be in the Hessen side's position. Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfL Wolfsburg are two that spring to mind immediately. Like their conquerors, Eintracht still have to play the other sides in the Top 5 of the Bundesliga, but they host Union Berlin and Werder Bremen in their next two fixtures and six points would certainly cement their place in the Top 6.