Meier hattrick secures Frankfurt victory over Wolfsburg

Alexander Meier’s hat trick secured a 3-2 victory for Eintracht Frankfurt over VfL Wolfsburg on Bundesliga matchday 18. Meier’s third and match winning goal came in the closing stages of the game after World Champion André Schürrle had provided an equaliser - his first Bundesliga goal since April 4th of last year.

35,000 spectators in Frankfurt’s Arena witnessed Wolfsburg being the more active team in the opening phase of the match. Max Kruse registered the first chance after 15 minutes, from which point on Wolfsburg started to increase the pressure on the hosts. Daniel Caligiuri and Naldo both missed chances within 60 seconds to take the lead after 18 minutes.

The visitors took the lead through Dante following a free kick from Ricardo Rodriguez. Frankfurt were fortunate not to be further behind at half time, as Kruse and Caligiuri missed clear chances just before the break.

Frankfurt emerged from the break with a completely different attitude and midway through the second half they had turned the game around thanks to Meier’s first two goals of the night. The match remained heavily contested by both teams with Schürrle ending his Bundesliga goal drought in the 79th minute and Vieirinha squandering an opportunity to retake the lead for Wolfsburg. Instead, Meier bagged his tenth goal of the season and provided Frankfurt with the perfect start to 2016.

Bremen earn three points at Schalke

Matchday 18 was concluded with Werder Bremen’s 3-1 victory at FC Schalke 04. The Royal Blues missed out on the opportunity to jump into fourth place with this defeat and remain sixth. SVW on the other hand claimed their first Bundesliga win since November 8th and extend their lead over the relegation zone to four points.

Schalke took the lead from Joel Matip after four minutes, but left out a number of opportunities to add to their lead before Clemens Fritz scored the equaliser shortly before the break. Claudio Pizarro bagged his 179th Bundesliga goal after the restart and Anthony Ujah sealed the victory in the closing stages.

World Champion Benedikt Höwedes was not available for Schalke and the same applied to injured Dennis Aogo. Winter new signings Alessandro Schöpf and Younes Belhanda did not make the starting XI. Werder coach Viktor Skripnik gave Papy Djilobodji, on loan from Chelsea FC, a start and opted for two strikers in his starting formation with Pizarro and Ujah.

Schalke’s early opener was reminiscent of their strengths from the first half of the season: A corner taken by Johannes Geis found Joel Matip’s head – Schalke scored three goals this way in the first half of the campaign. Bremen were eager to respond which gave Schalke a lot of space in the final third, but Klaas-Jan Huntelaar missed their best chances, his chipped attempt hitting the cross bar after 27 minutes and failing to find the target from a promising position seven minutes later.

Philipp Bargfrede was forced out of the game with an injury before the break and replaced by Zlatko Junuzovic. Bremen were rewarded for their efforts with the equaliser through Fritz, although it was slightly against the run of play. Schalke’s lack of clinical finishing continued in the second half when Germany international Leroy Sané missed a huge opportunity just after the restart. Pizarro fired the visitors into the lead a short while later and in with seconds left on the clock Ujah sealed the victory for Bremen.