Eintracht Frankfurt 4 : 5 VfB Stuttgart - Stuttgart edge nine-goal thriller

Posted Sunday, October 26, 2014 by PA

Christian Gentner scored an 84th-minute winner as Stuttgart won an extraordinary game against Eintracht Frankfurt 5-4 at the Waldstadion.

Alexander Madlung put Frankfurt in front before two goals from Martin Harnik gave Stuttgart the lead at half-time.

Gentner extended their advantage to 3-1 early in the second half, but Alexander Meier, Stefan Aigner and Madlung again struck in the space of eight manic minutes to put Frankfurt back in front.

There were more twists to come, though, with Timo Werner levelling things up again at 4-4 before Gentner netted his second to earn Armin Veh victory over his former club, who ended an incident-packed game with 10 men as Haris Seferovic saw red late on.

Veh was out to prove that his departure from Frankfurt to Stuttgart in the summer was a step up in his career, even if his new club trailed his former one coming into the game.

His team seemed to share that desire too with good early chances from Alexandru Maxim and Gentner both thwarted.

Gentner missed another good opportunity before Madlung gave Frankfurt the lead, finding himself in the right place at the right time to turn the ball in after Seferovic's header came back off the crossbar.

The goal came against the run of play and it took Stuttgart until the 34th minute to redress matters, and in just two minutes they turned the game on its head.

First, Harnik tucked his shot home after the ball reached him from a Frankfurt player in what would otherwise have been an offside position.

The Austrian then added his second from point-blank range after Maxim headed Sercan Serarer's cross on for him.

Stuttgart had good reason to think they were heading for all three points when, six minutes after half-time, Gentner exchanged passes with Maxim before sending his shot past Felix Wiedwald to give the visitors a two-goal cushion.

That was wiped out in the space of just four minutes, though, with Meier first bringing Frankfurt back into the game rather fortuitously with his knee before Aigner equalised from Aleksandar Ignjovski's long ball forwards.

Only four more minutes later Madlung then headed Frankfurt in front for the second time from Marc Stendera's free-kick.

That was not enough to earn the Eagles victory, though, as the drama continued with Werner scoring a fine individual goal to bring the visitors level with 10 minutes remaining.

Incredibly, Stuttgart took the lead yet again just a few minutes later with Gentner lifting the ball into the roof of the net from close range after Wiedwald only parried a free-kick to the Stuttgart captain.

Seferovic was then shown a second yellow card for gesturing to the assistant referee and Stuttgart wasted chances to add a sixth, although they held on to all three points to move above Borussia Dortmund into 14th place.