RB Leipzig 3 - 0 Eintracht Frankfurt: Leipzig keep grip on second place with comfortable win over Eintracht Frankfurt

Posted Sunday, January 22, 2017 by PA

Leipzig strengthened their grip on second place in the Bundesliga with a comfortable 3-0 win over 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday night.

Marvin Compper, Timo Werner and a Jesus Vallejo own goal sealed victory after the visitors had keeper Lucas Hradecky sent off for handling outside the box with just three minutes on the clock.

The win takes Leipzig back to within three points of leaders Bayern Munich while Frankfurt slipped to sixth after extending a worrying run to just one win from their last five league games.

The visitors endured a nightmare start after Hradecky's early dismissal under pressure from Brazilian Bernardo, leaving boss Niko Kovac no choice but to replace one of his two strikers with reserve keeper Heinz Lindner.

Lindner's first task was to save a sixth minute free-kick from Marcel Halstenberg but the ball fell to Compper who fired home to give the home side the lead.

Lindner denied Leipzig a second when he produced a superb save to deny Yussuf Poulsen after Marcel Sabitzer had set up the Dane with a cross in front the right.

Despite their numerical disadvantage the visitors were growing in confidence and they missed a fine chance to equalise when Peter Gulacsi saved well to deny Ante Rebic.

The dangerous Poulsen came close to connecting with a Werner cross in the 27th minute as the home side, beaten 3-0 by Bayern in their last league outing last month, began to re-assert their authority.

As the game stretched towards first half injury time Gulacsi saved again from Rebic before Poulsen directed a comfortable header in the direction of Lindner at the other end.

But four minutes into added time Leipzig increased their lead when Werner rose above the Frankfurt defence to steer a Naby Keita free-kick into the top corner.

Leipzig seldom looked like losing their advantage although the visitors gamely pressed with American Tim Chandler flipping a shot into the arms of Gulacsi nine minutes into the second period.

A quiet spell in the game came to an end in the 67th minute when Lindner denied Keita only for Halstenberg to drill a shot which took an unlucky deflection off Vallejo and ended up in the Frankfurt net.

With the visitors having long run out of hope of salvaging something from the game, Keita came close to making it 4-0 in the dying stages with a free-kick which flashed just wide of target.