Eintracht Frankfurt vs Cologne. German Bundesliga.
Commerzbank ArenaAttendance51,500.
Saturday 4 October 2014 20:35, UK
Eintracht Frankfurt will spend Saturday night ahead of local rivals Mainz in fifth place in the Bundesliga thanks to a 3-2 win over Cologne at the Waldstadion.
Marcel Risse gave the guests the lead in the 15th minute, but Alexander Meier equalised with his first goal of the afternoon just before half-time.
His second came just after the break to put Frankfurt in front before Jonas Hector levelled. With 11 minutes remaining Cologne defender Kevin Wimmer put through his own net to give Frankfurt all three points.
Cologne have built their strong start to the season on solid foundations, conceding only three times prior to their short trip south.
As a result things looked very promising for Peter Stoger's side when Risse curled a shot into the far corner of Felix Wiedwald's goal to give them the lead in the 14th minute.
Timo Horn then showed why he has been so hard to beat this season with a succession of saves and Hector confirmed it has been a team effort by heading Takashi Inui's shot off the line when Horn was beaten.
Frankfurt, meanwhile, had afforded themselves the luxury of leaving Meier out of their side for the first few games of the season, but since being restored by coach Thomas Schaaf, the prolific midfielder has made up for lost time.
He stuck in that vein just before half-time by heading Frankfurt level, although most of the credit must go to Haris Seferovic for his exquisite cross with the outside of his left boot.
It was the same combination 10 minutes into the second half which gave Frankfurt the lead, Meier again getting his head to Seferovic's cross, flicking the ball on into the far corner.
Ten minutes later, Cologne levelled with Hector netting his first goal of the season with two sublime touches. His first was a fine control before he dinked the ball over Wiedwald with his second, celebrating in front of the large following of Cologne fans.
Seferovic went close to getting his own name on the scoresheet as the game opened up, but Horn again excelled himself to deny the Swiss forward.
Horn was then beaten by his own defender with Wimmer getting a flick on a corner from the right which the Cologne keeper could only help in as he got in his one and only muddle of the evening, scooping the ball out only once it had already crossed the line.
