Eagles held in Augsburg | OneFootball

Daichi Kamada’s effort was cancelled out by Michael Gregoritsch as Eintracht Frankfurt drew 1-1 at FC Augsburg on Sunday afternoon.

Kamada’s fifth goal of the season opened the scoring at the WWK Arena, but Gregoritsch restored parity seven minutes before the break. Eintracht dominated possession and created the better chances after half-time, but Diant Ramaj produced an outstanding save in second-half stoppage time to prevent Florian Niederlechner from earning Augsburg all three points.

Ramaj in for Trapp

Oliver Glasner made four changes to the Eintracht team that lost to Borussia Dortmund in their first game of 2022. Ramaj, Makoto Hasebe, Djibril Sow and Almamy Toure were brought into the side, with Martin Hinteregger and Ajdin Hrustic dropping to the bench. Kevin Trapp and Filip Kostic were both sidelined after testing positive for Covid-19 on Friday.

Eventful first half ends all square

The Eagles were content to sit back and soak up the home side’s pressure in the early stages, but they grew into the game as the half wore on and took the lead through Kamada’s excellent finish. The Japan international was played through by Rafael Borré, before showing quick feet to sidestep Augsburg goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz and calmly slot home the opener.

Jesper Lindström then struck the foot of the post as Eintracht sought to double their advantage, but the visitors were given a let-off when Pepi’s close-range effort was ruled out by the video assistant referee for Andi Zeqiri’s foul on Hasebe. However, Markus Weinzierl’s side continued to push for an equaliser and levelled things up two minutes later when Gregoritsch drilled past Ramaj from a tight angle.

No way through

Evan Ndicka had a close-range strike ruled out for offside as Eintracht started the second half with renewed purpose. Toure also failed to hit the target from two promising positions, blazing over the crossbar from a corner before prodding Timothy Chandler’s left-wing delivery narrowly wide of the far post.

Lindström missed two golden opportunities in the closing stages of the game, firing straight at Gikiewicz in a one-on-one before dragging a low, left-footed effort off target. The Eagles were almost caught out at the other end in second-half stoppage time, but Ramaj did magnificently to block Niederlechner’s powerful, goal-bound effort and preserve a point for Glasner’s men.

Summary: A fair result

All things considered, a draw was a fair result at the WWK Arena. Both teams created excellent chances to snatch all three points, but a combination of wayward finishing and smart goalkeeping ensured the game finished all square.

SGE line-up

Ramaj – Tuta, Hasebe, Ndicka – Toure, Sow, Rode (Jakic 79’), Chandler (Hinteregger 81’) – Kamada, Lindström – Borré (Paciencia 81’)

Goals

0-1  Kamada (22’) 1-1 Gregoritsch (38’)