Forward Andre Silva scored again and substitute Stefan Ilsanker struck twice in the final 10 minutes as Eintracht Frankfurt took a big step towards safety with a 3-0 win away to Werder Bremen in their rescheduled Matchday 24 encounter in the ongoing Bundesliga.
Silva had found the net three times in Frankfurt’s previous four games ahead of kick-off and the Portuguese also had the first sight of goal in what was a full-blooded relegation battle, only to see Jiri Pavlenka make a good save on Wednesday, according to the official Bundesliga website.
The Eagles looked to be building momentum, with further openings for Daichi Kamada and Dominik Kohr, but Bremen gradually got into the game.
Davy Klaassen stung the fingertips of Kevin Trapp with a rasping drive from the edge of the box, while Theodor Gebre Selassie’s header missed the target from a corner, leaving the teams goalless at the interval.
The visitors were the better side after the break and after Kohr had a goal chalked off for offside, Silva gave them a deserved lead in the 61st minute with a thumping back-post header from Filip Kostic’s pinpoint cross.
That spurred Bremen into action but try as they might they could simply find no way through a well-drilled Frankfurt rearguard, with a hopeful shot that flew over the bar from substitute Leonardo Bittencourt about as close as they came.
The Eagles sealed the points in the closing stages when in the 81st minute, Ilsanker tapped in his first-ever Bundesliga goal from close range following a corner, having only entered the pitch a few seconds earlier. The defender made sure there was no way back for a frustrated home team in the last minute with a powerful header from a Jonathan de Guzman free-kick.
With the result, Werder Bremen remain stuck in the relegation zone in 17th, meanwhile Eintracht Frankfurt jump to 11th.