Fortuna Dusseldorf 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Espirit arena
13/02/12
att 41,313
We are top of the league........
Since we last came to a fortuna game in Dusseldorf their ground has disappeared, their training pitch reappeared and Azerbaijan have won eurovision. Yes a lot happens in the space of about 10 months. It only seemed natural to come back for a lower key match. After all the previous two games had been the local derby against MSV and the other the first league game at the temporary Air-Berlin world. But as usual we misjudged the rivalry and had quite a surprise when we arrived to see the precautions in place to prevent any trouble. To the left of us the top tier had remained completely empty while around the other 3 fences were two lines of stewards and an empty block of seats.
The Espirit arena was built from 2002 to 2004 at a cost of €240 million. It replaced the former Rheinstadion that had stood there for 77 years. Many Fortuna fans were unhappy with the stadium that has replaced their former home. The initial capacity was 51,500 with no terracing avaliable. To make things worse there was a large cap behind one of the goals for a stage meaning the ground didn't look or feel like a football ground. Many were also angered by the fact there was no mention to Fortuna within the ground as the seats are multi-coloured. In 2010 capacity was expanded to 54,500 as terracing was provided and the gap filled in. The ground is completed with a sliding roof and a bizzare outer shell that appears to serve no real purpose other than it looks nice. Oh and there are heaters in the roof.
From about 15 minutes before kick off the 6000 or so travelling Frankfurt were in good voice and making the best of the night game. The fortuna fans soon woke up and started making a noise as well. They appeared to be disgruntled at the amount of monday night games they are playing as the actively had a flag on display with "scheiss montagspiele" displayed on it. As the players walked out a number of flares were lit in the visiting section. This led to a plume of smoke surrounding the stadium and with the roof above closed had no where to go. So for the rest of the game the picture quality was really poor. But the smoke was so bad that we could barely see the opposite side to us.
The game was a tense top of the table clash. Who ever won would over take Greuther Furth at the top of the table, who played earlier this weekend. The first half went by with neither team managing to get a grasp on the game. There were lots of hard tackles going in so it was a surprise that it took the referee until the 45th minute to book a player. The second half started with Eintracht being the better team. They had a tremendous chance but were denied by a reflex save from ratajczak in the Dusseldorf goal. Frankfurt finally took the lead in the 69th minute after a neat play that saw the ball squirmed into the net. Fortuna then upped the pressure to get an equalizer. They had a few chances but looked as though they were heading for a loss. This was until a player was fouled in the area. The referee signaled no foul but the linesman had spotted that it was a penalty. This gave an extra edge to the game. Fortuna scored in the 91st minute from the penalty spot. The eintracht fans and officials were furious. Some how a fortuna player managed to get himself sent off.
We then headed back to the car, and for a second night on the trot were impressed with the arrangements. From the official club car parks we were on the motorway back to PDM NL HQ in 15 minutes. Fortuna are now top, a point ahead of frankfurt and furth. This is a very tight league and it will be interesting to see who are in the Bundesliga for next season
The Espirit arena was built from 2002 to 2004 at a cost of €240 million. It replaced the former Rheinstadion that had stood there for 77 years. Many Fortuna fans were unhappy with the stadium that has replaced their former home. The initial capacity was 51,500 with no terracing avaliable. To make things worse there was a large cap behind one of the goals for a stage meaning the ground didn't look or feel like a football ground. Many were also angered by the fact there was no mention to Fortuna within the ground as the seats are multi-coloured. In 2010 capacity was expanded to 54,500 as terracing was provided and the gap filled in. The ground is completed with a sliding roof and a bizzare outer shell that appears to serve no real purpose other than it looks nice. Oh and there are heaters in the roof.
From about 15 minutes before kick off the 6000 or so travelling Frankfurt were in good voice and making the best of the night game. The fortuna fans soon woke up and started making a noise as well. They appeared to be disgruntled at the amount of monday night games they are playing as the actively had a flag on display with "scheiss montagspiele" displayed on it. As the players walked out a number of flares were lit in the visiting section. This led to a plume of smoke surrounding the stadium and with the roof above closed had no where to go. So for the rest of the game the picture quality was really poor. But the smoke was so bad that we could barely see the opposite side to us.
The game was a tense top of the table clash. Who ever won would over take Greuther Furth at the top of the table, who played earlier this weekend. The first half went by with neither team managing to get a grasp on the game. There were lots of hard tackles going in so it was a surprise that it took the referee until the 45th minute to book a player. The second half started with Eintracht being the better team. They had a tremendous chance but were denied by a reflex save from ratajczak in the Dusseldorf goal. Frankfurt finally took the lead in the 69th minute after a neat play that saw the ball squirmed into the net. Fortuna then upped the pressure to get an equalizer. They had a few chances but looked as though they were heading for a loss. This was until a player was fouled in the area. The referee signaled no foul but the linesman had spotted that it was a penalty. This gave an extra edge to the game. Fortuna scored in the 91st minute from the penalty spot. The eintracht fans and officials were furious. Some how a fortuna player managed to get himself sent off.
We then headed back to the car, and for a second night on the trot were impressed with the arrangements. From the official club car parks we were on the motorway back to PDM NL HQ in 15 minutes. Fortuna are now top, a point ahead of frankfurt and furth. This is a very tight league and it will be interesting to see who are in the Bundesliga for next season