FIRST TEAM
11/20/2010

Ibisevic brace sees Hoffenheim cruise past Frankfurt

1899 Hoffenheim returned to winning ways when they travelled to face Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Ralf Rangnick's team emerged 4-0 winners after Vukcevic had opened the scoring just before half time, while Ibisevic added two in second half with the match finally wrapped up with the fourth goal coming from Peniel Mlapa. It was an assured and composed victory for Hoffenheim following last weekend's bitter defeat against SC Freiburg in the dying moments.

Two changes for Rangnick

Trainer Ralf Rangnick decided to make two changes to the side that ended up losing the match at the death against SC Freiburg. The 4-4-2 formation was discarded as 1899 returned to their more natural 4-3-3 system for the trip to Frankfurt. The change of formation was somewhat of a necessity for Hoffenheim as they were without several key players, notably Chinedu Obasi, Tom Starke and Josip Simunic. Peniel Mlapa and Gylfi Sigurdsson made way for Sejad Salihovic and Vedad Ibisevic in the starting line-up as the men from Kraichgau looked to get themselves back on track.

Vukcevic breaks the deadlock with his head

The match didn't take long to get going. From the whistle, both teams were pressing forward as holes appeared in the backline of both teams. It created an open match with lots of chances, the first of which came in the 7th minute, but after being put through on goal the Greek international was unable to convert the chance after Haas did well to close the angle on the centre forward. Boris Vukcevic came closest for Hoffenheim, but dragged his shot just wide of the far post after good work by Demba Ba. As the tempo picked up Frankfurt, who were struggling to keep up with the pace of the match, ended up affording Hoffenheim a lot of control in the match. As 1899 pushed forward Sejad Salihovic had a chance from a free-kick, but could only force a save out of Oka Nikolov. Then in the 31st minute the pressure finally told on the home side as Hoffenheim took the lead from a corner. Sebastian Rudy whipped in a wonderful cross and Vukcevic rose highest to head the ball into the net for a deserved lead. Moments later Ibisevic had an opportunity to extend the lead after Demba Ba did all the hard work to create the chance for the Bosnian. However, he was unable to beat Nikolov with his headed effort, who then made a fantastic save from the follow up shot to keep the lead at one as the teams went in at half time.

Ibisevic is back!

There were no changes during the break as both teams emerged unchanged. Despite the lack of changes, though, the opening exchanges in the second half certainly lacked the intensity of the first half. Then in the 56th minute luck was on Hoffenheim's side. Altintop had an effort on goal that seemed to be blocked by the arm of Demba Ba and should have seen referee Wingenbach pointing to the spot. However, the chance reignited Frankfurt's efforts to get back into the match. As the home side pressed for an equaliser, the defensive dup of Marvin Compper and Isaac Vorsah stood tall at the back and look strong in the tackle, giving Frankfurt no chance of getting a shot off. The second half was the time for Ibisevic to mark his return and prove that he's still the clinical striker 1899 fans have come to know. Andreas Beck did the work down the right hand side before playing into the feet of the Bosnian who brushed of Maik Franz before coolly finishing to make it 0-2. It came as a shock to the hosts who had looked likely to pull one back moments earlier. Minutes later the Bosnian was on hand again to truly put the nail in the coffin. Mlapa burst past Russ before setting up Ibisevic who gave Nikolov no chance with his finish to extend the lead to three goals. At this point the Frankfurt heads had dropped and were unable to create any chances. Hoffenheim, however, weren't finished yet. Mlapa who had come on as a substitute was on hand to poke the ball over the line after Rudy had set the chance up perfectly for the youngster, killing off a truly magnificent performance for Hoffenheim.

 

Match facts and statistics »

Download Now!
Print Page to top