Marmoush the joker as 10-man Frankfurt eliminate Gladbach

Eintracht Frankfurt welcomed Borussia Mönchengladbach to the Deutsche-Bank Park for their second round DfB Pokal clash. The all-Bundesliga affair ended with a 2-1 win for the hosts despite Arthur Theate’s red card.

A hotly anticipated cup clash sparked into life in the 9th-minute as Hugo Ekitiké demonstrated his nifty dribbling abilities to skip past Scally, Itakura, and Friedrich. Matanović would unleash the strike but it deflected off Ekitiké and left of the Gladbach goal. The lively Frenchman had the ball in the net minutes later however Matthias Jöllenbeck’s shrill whistle sounded for a foul on Itakura. 

With the subsequent move the German arbiter brandished Theate with a red card – his deliberate handball to deny Ullrich of a goal-scoring opportunity left a clear-cut decision to make. The Belgian’s second dismissal in as many games didn’t deter Toppmöller’s men. In fact, Die Adler went one better before the break as Ekitiké struck for 1-0. Skhiri sent Ekitiké on his way past Friedrich to drill past Moritz Nicolas. 

It took all of two second-half minutes for Die Fohlen-elf to restore parity. Honorat’s delivery was redirected to the edge of the box by Kleindienst. The German striker presented Itakura with space to pick his spot with the aid of the left upright. With the visitors getting on top of proceedings, Toppmöller called upon Omar Marmoush who was afforded a rest this evening. 

Sure enough, with no introduction needed, Marmoush rattled the Gladbach net within minutes of taking to the field. A cross from the right bobbled about before the Egyptian evaded tackle after tackle to fizz the ball into the roof of Nicolas’ goal. Further chances fell the way of 10-man Frankfurt late on but Nicolas remained firm, albeit not enough to keep Gladbach in the cup as Frankfurt’s joker made the difference.