Eintracht Frankfurt ran riot at nine-man Hoffenheim to come away with a 4-0 victory in the Bundesliga this afternoon.
Hoffenheim had the better of the early possession with Eren Derdiyok twice denied by in-form goalkeeper Kevin Trapp inside the opening 20 minutes, but their wastefulness would not go unpunished.
The visitors' nerves soon dissipated and they settled into some good attacking football, taking the lead through Alexander Meier in the 39th minute.
Armin Veh's men refused to sit back on their laurels after going one up, and their perseverance paid off when they doubled their advantage on 43 minutes through Pirmin Schwegler to go into the break two goals to the good.
Things went from bad to worse for Hoffenheim in the second period when Sejad Salihovic was given his marching orders for a second yellow card offence.
Four minutes later, the hosts were down to nine men when referee Michael Weiner sent off Stephan Schrock for his second bookable offence.
Eintracht Frankfurt capitalised on their numerical advantage through Meier's 83rd-minute strike and a Martin Lanig effort at the death to make the final score 4-0 in an afternoon Hoffenheim can take few positives from.
Mark Langshaw
