#1 Eintracht Frankfurt – Bundesliga, 1998/99
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The 1998-99 Bundesliga did seem a tad boring at the top with Bayern Munich claiming the Championship with three rounds to go, eventually finishing 15 points ahead of runners-up Bayer Leverkusen. But the battle for survival at the foot of the table went on until the last minute of the season with one relegation spot undecided and five teams fighting to avoid the drop.
Nuremberg started the final day of the season in 12th place and with 37 points – one ahead of Stuttgart and Freiburg, two ahead of Hansa Rostock and three ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt. Frankfurt had the toughest odds with them having to play Champions League chasing Kaiserslautern. Stuttgart would take on Werder Bremen and Rostock would play already relegated Bochum, with Nuremberg and Freiburg facing each other in a mouth-watering climax to the season.
With 20 minutes left to play, it was Eintracht Frankfurt who were in the drop zone, held 1-1 by Kaiserslautern. Rostock and Stuttgart held 1-0 advantages and Freiburg were 2-0 up against Nuremberg.
In a matter of seconds, Frankfurt would score a goal to take the lead against Kaiserslautern and Bochum would score the equaliser against Rostock – as things stood, it would be Rostock going down. With ten minutes left, Bochum would score again and Rostock needed two goals to save their Bundesliga status.
The drama just kept on coming as Frankfurt proceeded to open a 4-1 lead against Kaiserslautern, leapfrogging a losing Nuremberg in the table on goals scored, even though both were provisionally safe with Rostock going down. But that all changed with two quick goals from Agali and Mijak for Rostock who proceeded to open up a 3-2 lead on Bochum and push Nuremberg down to the relegation spot.
However, Marek Nikl pulled one goal back for Nuremberg and now they were off the bottom three and Frankfurt were back in on goal difference. With seconds remaining till the final whistle, Jan Aage Fjortoff scored to make the score 5-1 in favour of Frankfurt – restoring their advantage on goals scored.
Back against Freiburg, Nuremberg had a chance to grab an equaliser which would spell the end for Frankfurt – Marek Nikl’s long range effort was only parried by the Freiburg keeper and two Nuremberg players rushed in with just the fallen keeper between them and the goal. But the tame effort was directed straight at the keeper. Freiburg held on and so did Frankfurt.
At the end of a tumultuous 90 minutes, it would be the unlucky Nuremberg who would drop down four places to end their season in the relegation zone as Freiburg, Stuttgart, Rostock and spectacularly Frankfurt survived.
