Borussia Dortmund needed 80 minutes to break Eintracht Frankfurt. Maximilian Beier did it. Sent on to cover the left flank, the forward arrived at the edge of the box and drove a right-footed finish into the top corner for a 1-0 win at Signal Iduna Park.
The sporting fact
Beier had been on the pitch for little more than ten minutes. Jobe Bellingham had also just entered, replacing Nmecha. Their combination settled a tight match. Beier passed to Bellingham, continued his run, then received the return after the English midfielder held the ball up. His finish gave Atubolu no chance.
Niko Kovac had refreshed his side with Chukwuemeka, Nwaneri and Beier. The latter replaced Svensson on the left, but kept attacking central spaces. Dortmund had controlled much of the game without finding a clean final action.
Veerman set the tempo in midfield. His passing repeatedly carried Dortmund into the final third. From one of his deliveries, following a corner in the 53rd minute, Serhou Guirassy headed against the crossbar.
Guirassy had other openings. Fábio Silva found him inside the area before half-time, but Atubolu stopped his attempted chip. The goalkeeper also dealt with a long-range Guirassy effort and denied Nmecha with a left-footed shot shortly before the interval. Later, he saved from Nwaneri, while Ryerson sent another Dortmund chance over.
Dortmund also required Gregor Kobel. Chaïbi tested him from distance immediately after the restart. Kobel tipped the shot away despite reduced visibility from flare smoke, which then caused a brief stoppage. He later saved another Chaïbi attempt and had already kept out Ebnoutalib in the first half.
Frankfurt stayed in the game until the end. Mario Götze came on against his former club, but the visitors could not build sustained pressure. An offside decision ended one late attack. Gadou replaced the tiring Ryerson to strengthen Dortmund’s back line, and Kobel collected the final cross.
The result extended Dortmund’s strong home record against Frankfurt. Since 2011, Dortmund have won 15 meetings at Signal Iduna Park and lost only once to this opponent there.
