Frankfurt and Mönchengladbach shared the spoils in a closely-fought affair at the Commerzbank-Arena on Friday evening, as a frenetic first half paved way for a lacklustre second.
Last week, Borussia opened the scoring within 28 seconds but this time around they were in danger of going behind themselves, as Haris Seferovic fired a shot narrowly over within the first 24. Both teams pressed up high in the opening exchanges with chances somewhat few, Borussia’s best chance in the opening minutes coming as Max Kruse found himself in a pocket of space on the left wing, squaring with a looping cross behind Frankfurt’s high line towards in-form winger Patrick Herrmann. Herrmann’s original drive was saved excellently by goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, and the winger could only smash the rebound over at the second time of asking.
Moments later, Borussia had the ball in the back of the net as Granit Xhaka fed Raffael, who rifled a shot past Kevin Trapp; however, the Brazilian had moved just a fraction too early and was correctly flagged offside. Frankfurt provided a few moments of note, with Hasebe and Seferovic both going close not long after, but the next best chance fell to American international Fabian Johnson. A lung-bursting drive into the box by left back Oscar Wendt created space for Johnson, who collected the ball well and shot narrowly wide with a dinked, curling effort past Trapp’s far post.
However, after 45 minutes, nothing meaningful could separate the two sides; it had been an exciting first half with a fair few chances, but neither side had looked particularly clinical in front of goal. Would it tell?
Well, yes. Both teams looked notably tired in the second period, with chances (quite differently to the first half) few and far between. Schaaf had clearly tasked his side with disrupting the rhythm of Borussia’s attack, and it paid dividends for the hosts as the guests struggled to build a sustained head of pressure as they had at points in the first half. In fact, Frankfurt probably had the best chances of the half, with Stefan Aigner going close twice and Alexander Madlung forcing Yann Sommer into a smart save from a corner.
Gladbach had the final word, with Ibrahima Traore dancing around the Frankfurt defence and squaring to Christoph Kramer who drew a fine save from Kevin Trapp in the dying moments of the game, but the game ended a deserved draw for both sides. Frankfurt extend their unbeaten run at home to nine while Borussia’s unbeaten run in the Bundesliga both home and away now stands at nine games, too.