Nuremberg extended their winning run in the Bundesliga to four games on Friday, when goals from Julian Schieber, Robert Mak and Almog Cohen earned a 3-0 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Frankfurt have yet to win in the Bundesliga this year and have been outscored by 11 goals to none since the winter break.
Schieber scored in the 67th minute when Mehmet Ekici teed up a free-kick that the 22-year-old forward fired low past the unsighted Oka Nikolov from 27m.
Photo: EPA
Substitute Mak dispossessed Aleksandar Vasoski before lifting the ball over Nikolov to make the game safe in the 87th minute, before Cohen scored in the final minute.
Nuremberg moved to sixth place, while Frankfurt are 12th ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games.
Frankfurt had the first real chance, from a Georgios Tzavellas free-kick in the 10th minute. Fanis Gekas missed the ball and it fell to Vasoski, but the defender scooped it over the crossbar from close range.
Nuremberg leftback Horacio Javier Pinola of Argentina fired over from 18m shortly afterward, following a Mehmet Ekici corner.
Nuremberg looked more likely to score and Cohen’s header was narrowly wide in the 27th minute after a great cross from Pinola.
Schieber’s cross in the 40th almost produced the opener, but Vasoski’s crucial interception nicked it away from the onrushing Christian Eigler.
The resulting corner, taken by Ekici, nearly caused an own-goal.
Nikolov had to react smartly to save from teammate Marco Russ when the defender met Ekici’s ball with a powerful header in the wrong direction.
Gekas threatened briefly at the other end, before the ball was cleared by the Nuremberg defense.
Cohen was unable to reach a dangerous-looking cross after the interval, while Hegeler should have scored in the 51st minute when he blasted over from close range after a perfect pass from Ekici.
Ekici was denied a penalty three minutes later when he was bundled over in the area by Patrick Ochs while jumping for the ball.
Frankfurt had the ball in the net following a rare attack in the 60th minute, but Gekas had strayed offside. There was nothing wrong with Schieber’s goal seven minutes later.
It was the striker’s seventh goal of the season and Nuremberg’s first from a free-kick.
Nikolov’s fingertip save denied Ekici’s dipping shot moments later and the goalkeeper was at his best again to deny Philipp Wollscheid from point-blank range late in the game, before Mak and Cohen scored.
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