Switzerland striker Haris Seferovic on Monday threw down a marker for Euro 2016 by scoring the crucial goal in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 1-0 playoff win at Nuremberg to keep them in the German top flight.
After Thursday last week’s relegation playoff first leg in Frankfurt finished in a 1-1 draw, Seferovic netted at Nuremberg’s sold-out Grundig-Stadion to the delight of the traveling fans in the 50,000 crowd.
It was only Seferovic’s fourth goal of the season, his first since November last year, but he proved his form to Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic for next month’s Euro 2016 by netting Frankfurt’s all-important goal to seal a 2-1 aggregate win.
Photo: EPA
The striker struck in the 66th minute, converting a cross from Mijat Gacinovic, who scored Frankfurt’s equalizer in the first leg, to Eintracht’s delight.
It means Frankfurt coach Niko Kovac has succeeded in his mission of keeping Eintracht up having taken over in March with nine games remaining and his team in the bottom three.
For Nuremberg, they face another season in Germany’s second tier as they missed out on promotion having finished in third place.
“Thank god we’re still in the first division,” said Kovac, whose team entered the playoff by finishing third from bottom in Germany’s top flight, while Hannover 96 and VfB Stuttgart went down.
“I am pleased that we’ve managed it, but I have some sympathy for Nuremberg,” he said. “It would have been tragic if we’d gone down, with that goal we can forget about the entire season.”
The only bad news was an early injury to midfielder Marc Stendera, who suffered a suspected torn cruciate knee ligament, but he insisted on staying at the stadium instead of going to hospital to watch his club fight to stay up.
There was already plenty of drama in the first leg when Eintracht captain Marco Russ scored an own-goal, a day after discovering he has a tumor. He was due to undergo surgery on Monday.
The growth’s location has not been disclosed, but Russ insisted on playing on Thursday last week, only to score Nuremberg’s first-half goal before picking up a booking which saw him suspended for the second leg.
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