Frankfurt make light work of struggling Heidenheim | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt romped to victory over FC Heidenheim this afternoon as Dino Toppmöller's side take yet another considerable step closer to UEFA Champions League football next season. As for Heidenheim, the prospect of a relegation play-off inches closer to becoming a reality.

Although the young talent Kaua Santos' goal came under pressure from a Franz Krätzig cross, it was Frankfurt who took the lead in the 10th-minute. Hugo Ekitiké's neat pass from the left found Farès Chaïbi who fed Jean-Matteo Bahoya to tap home with his left boot.

Heidenheim's goal came under further threat as the half wore on with Hugo Ekitiké drawing a fine save out of Kevin Müller. Minutes later, Arthur Theate rattled the side netting from an acute angle.

Although the game entered a bit of a lull approaching the interval, Frankfurt extended their lead to 2-0 courtesy of Robin Koch on 42 minutes. Theate found Ekitiké who fended off Gimber and teed up the German centre-half who wrapped his left foot around the ball to plunge it into the bottom corner.

Frank Schmidt made a double alteration after the break with Sirlord Conteh and Paul Wanner replacing Benedict Gimber and Nicholas Dorsch. Conteh almost contributed to reducing the deficit around the hour when he fed Pieringer who skipped past Tuta but pulled his shot wide of the post.

It wasn't long until Die Adler regained control of the game as the post came to Heidenheim's rescue. Ekitiké's cross came close to creating an own-goal as Tim Siersleben slid in to divert the ball away from Çan Uzun and Chaïbi. The centre-half cut a relieved figure as it kissed the aluminium on the way behind to concede the corner and nothing more.

The game was eventually put beyond doubt as substitute Nathaniel Brown set up the third goal. Farès Chaïbi picked out the run of Brown who composed himself before delivering the perfect cross for Hugo Ekitiké to convert with ease. Two final saves from Müller to deny Theate and Elye Wahi prevented what could have been a complete rout.