Gladbach snatch late draw as Stindl claims hat-trick

Frankfurt am Main (AFP) – Borussia Moenchengladbach captain Lars Stindl claimed a hat-trick with an equaliser in the fifth minute of added time to snatch a Bundesliga point in Tuesday’s 3-3 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.  

 Stindl’s late heroics saved  a point at Frankfurt, but Gladbach, who have drawn Manchester City in the last 16 of the Champions League, are winless in their last five games in all competitions.

After Stindl opened the scoring by curling in a14th minute free-kick, Frankfurt roared back with three unanswered goals including two by Portugal striker Andre Silva.

Leading 3-1, Frankfurt played the last 10 minutes with ten men after captain David Abraham was sent off for a second booking.

With 90 minutes almost up, Gladbach won a penalty and Stindl stepped up to convert. Then he netted a last-gasp header to seal the draw.

The point leaves Gladbach seventh in the table, seven points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who are at Cologne on Wednesday.

Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp suffered a heavy blow to the head early on after colliding with his own defender.

Moments later, Gladbach went ahead when Stindl’s superb free-kick went over the wall and outside Trapp’s out-stretched glove.

Frankfurt responded by pressuring Gladbach, whose defender Stefan Lainer conceded a penalty when he blocked a shot with his hand.

Silva converted on 22 minutes.

He added a second two minutes later when midfielder Aymen Barkok floated the ball over the defence which Silva brought down with a great first touch and fired past goalkeeper Yann Sommer.

Silva then turned provider when he laid the ball off for Barkok who beat two defenders and coolly rolled the ball home on 32 minutes to make it 3-1 at the break.

Frankfurt had a penalty awarded, then changed to a free kick by the VAR, when Denis Zakaria tripped Eintracht’s Dominik Kohr on the edge of the area.

After Abraham was sent off, Gladbach kept pushing and were rewarded as Stindl brought his side level with two late goals.