Ironically, without Oliver Glasner, Eintracht Frankfurt has ended its months-long results crisis in the Bundesliga for the time being. The Hessians defeated FSV Mainz 05 3-0 (2-0) in the Rhine-Main duel on Saturday and thus moved past their local rivals on Matchday 32. Glasner, who was suspended after a red card, watched from a box as his team confidently achieved their first league success since mid-February. Daichi Kamada (19th minute/penalty), Aurelio Buta (40th) and Randal Kolo Muani (59th) scored for the cup finalists in front of 50,000 spectators.
While Mainz suffered their third defeat in a row, Eintracht maintained their remaining hope of a European place in the league. Seventh place would bring Frankfurt into the Conference League if the DFB Cup final against RB Leipzig is lost. If they were to win the cup, they would certainly play in the Europa League.
Glasner, whose departure became official at the end of the season during the week, was replaced by assistant Michael Angerschmid in his absence. The fans shouted Glasner's name enthusiastically as the line-up was read out even before kick-off. The displeasure for the imminent separation had been received in the past few days rather by sporting director Markus Krösche. Glasner now has three games left to lead Eintracht back to Europe: at Schalke, against Freiburg and the long-awaited final on 3 June in Berlin.
Buta does it like van Basten
And his team seems to be getting back in shape in time. In the explosive duel with Mainz, the Hessians were the better and more dynamic team from the start. Kolo Muani and Kamada initially missed two promising attacks, but then quickly did better. The Japanese was brought down by Andreas Hanche-Olsen in the penalty area and converted the penalty himself. Kamada's self-confidence was surprising, after all, he had not contributed a scoring point since January and had not contributed a goal in the league since October.
It was noticeable to Mainz how much they missed the two suspended sixes Dominik Kohr and Leandro Barreiro. Instead, Frankfurt's Kamada and Djibril Sow dominated in midfield, while the visitors lacked ideas and pace up front. The same could not be said of the hosts. Former world champion Mario Götze (27th) hit the crossbar with a deflected cross.
Then it got brilliant: after a long ball from Tuta to Buta, he finished with a direct shot from an extremely acute angle. The finishing position was reminiscent of Marco van Basten's sensational volley goal at the 1988 European Championship. Even after the break, almost everything went well for Frankfurt: World Cup runner-up Kolo Muani scored his 14th goal of the season after a great solo, on the other side Kevin Trapp defused Danny da Costa worth seeing. The Eintracht fans sang more elated and detached than they had for a long time.