Can Frankfurt cope without Vahaba's presence up front?
A hip injury suffered in last week's action will keep the loan striker Guy Vahaba out of Eintracht Frankfurt's attack for around two months, with the medical staff pointing to a return shortly before Christmas.
The moment came without a challenge, the way these things often do: Guy Vahaba, turning away from his marker, checked his run, reached for the hip and stopped. The crowd at the Frankfurt end saw it before the referee did — the striker waving to the bench, the shake of the head, the slow walk that says a player already knows.
The diagnosis is a hip injury, and the club expects him to be missing for roughly 62 days, which would put a return around 21 December. That is a medical staff's estimate, not a promise. In the meantime Eintracht lose their striker for 11 games, and a forward who has scored four in 10 this season — a respectable return for a side with ambitions. The loan from Borussia Dortmund was meant to give the attack an edge; for two months it will have to find one elsewhere.