Borussia Dortmund will have the chance to stretch their lead at the top to ten points on Sunday after Eintracht Frankfurt beat second-place Mainz 05. Frankfurt controlled most of the first half and should have been ahead through Halil Altintop, but the Turkish midfielder was just a bit late as he slid in on the back post. Mainz’s Radoslav Zabavnik was fortunate to stay on the pitch after a cynical foul on Pirmin Schwegler after he’d already been booked, but the hosts took the lead on thirty-five minutes as Marco Russ took a loose ball on the full volley in the middle of the penalty area and hammered his shot past Christian Wetklo. However, Frankfurt’s lead didn’t last long as Altintop fouled Marcel Risse just inside the box to give the visitors a penalty, which Andre Schürrle took and scored.
Eintracht Frankfurt Beat Mainz 05, Hannover 96 Come From Behind
Mainz came out a bit better after halftime, but despite the introduction of Lewis Holtby, they failed to create many good chances. It was Frankfurt who played the more confident football, and re-took the lead with just six minutes to go. Jan Kirchoff was adjudged to have handled in the box, and Florian Meyer pointed to the spot again. Theofanis Gekas took up the responsibility and scored the penalty, giving Frankfurt their first win in a month, and ending Mainz’s resurgence.
In the other early Saturday kickoffs, Hannover 96 came from behind with two goals in three minutes to win and move up to third place after Igor De Camargo had given Borussia Mönchengladbach the lead from Michael Bradley’s free-kick, a severely injury-weakened Werder Bremen drew 0-0 with Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena, Papiss Demba Cissé‘s eleventh goal of the season gave Freiburg a 1-0 win over Hamburg SV, and Stuttgart picked up a point in a 1-1 draw at home against Hoffenheim, who played most of the game with ten men.
