First half goals from Haris Seferovic and Alexander Madlung proved to be enough for Eintracht Frankfurt to cancel out Karim Bellarabi's stunner and claim three more points.

After a drab and dull 0-0 against Hertha BSC, the European dream was officially over for Thomas Schaaf's men. Despite that, the announcement of Stefan Reinartz's arrival in the summer from their opponents was a nice boost. Aleksandar Ignjovski and Constant Djakpa dropped out of the starting line-up from the week previous, allowing Marco Russ and Luca Waldschmidt to come in.

Leverkusen's fate had been sealed last weekend, too. Even though they triumphed against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Borussia Mönchengladbach managed to secure third spot and condemn Roger Schmidt's men to the Champions League qualifiers. Julian Brandt, Sebastian Boenisch and Lars Bender came in for Roberto Hilbert, Ömer Toprak and Simon Rolfes, as the Werkself began with a make-shift back-line.

That was soon exploited by the home side, as they went ahead after just four minutes. A great move that started with Haris Seferovic's chest control ended up with Russ chipping the ball over the top to him, as the Swiss striker slipped the ball under Bernd Leno for an early opener.

It didn't take long at all for Karim Bellerabi to square the game up, however. A fast flowing move by the visitors saw Rolfes break forward and feed Bellarabi; he needed just one touch to set himself before slapping home a remarkable effort from twenty yards. The ball arrowed into the top corner, leaving both Kevin Trapp and the home fans in shock.

Hakan Calhanoglu then went close soon after, ripping a free-kick from 40-yards that rippled the roof of the net on the way down. Leverkusen continued to pile on the pressure in a crazy opening half hour, though the final pass or finish was badly lacking.

The half wore on and Leverkusen continued to force Frankfurt into some last ditch defending, with Alexander Madlung making two impressive blocks from Brandt. Seferovic was still toiling away at the other end and, only for Leno's alertness, he could have slipped in Marc Stendera.

Madlung soon reaped the rewards from his impressive defending, as he lashed home Frankfurt's second. Stendera's corner deflected off Brandt and Tin Jedvaj, before falling kindly for the centre-half to smash into the top corner from just a few yards out.

The second forty-five got off to a much more tame start compared to the first, perhaps luckily for some of the more faint of heart. Madlung, however, had a great chance to double the lead and his tally, only to see his header go inches over the bar.

Both sides continued to plug away to try and add to their tallies, though no goals were forth coming. Eintracht were flying on the break and had Stendera's final ball been better, Seferovic would have had the simplest of tap-ins.

Leno had to be alert again to deny Seferovic, who nearly finished off a spectacular bicycle kick from Nelson Valdez. Leverkusen went right back up the other end and Bellarabi's pass lacked the power needed to find Heung-Min Son, Bastian Oczipka was then just able to clear the ball away in time.

Frankfurt survived several late scares to secure a fantastic win to top off their season. Leverkusen knew they had little to play for before the game started, but would still have been disappointed by a below par showing.

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About the author
Jonathan Walsh
SoccerSight IFA commentator. VAVEL deputy editor-in-chief/VAVEL Bundesliga editor-in-chief and writer. Email: [email protected]