Marco Fabian Outshines Chicharito

Marco Fabian got a somewhat surprising start and season debut against Chicharito and Bayer Leverkusen. He started in the number 10 role for Eintracht Frankfurt but was all over the field for Eintracht. He had his best game of his European career. The Chivas youth product best his former teammate, Chicharito, and led his team to a 2-1 home victory over Leverkusen.

The first half was a sluggish affair with Eintracht being the better team but not being able to put one on the scoreboard. Bayer’s attack was flat and could not get going. Fabian was active and constantly around the ball but Chicharito was a ghost. Bayer could not get him the ball and he finished the first half with the fewest amount of touches on either team.

Fabian’s persistence paid off and he was able to get an assist in the 53rd minute on a dangerous cross into the box. At that point, the game finally got good with both teams pushing for more goals.

Bayer made 2 offensive minded substitutions and put Frankfurt on the defensive. The barrage of attacks finally resulted in this Chicharito goal to tie the game. Bayer seemed like they would score a second but Marquito Fabian had other ideas.

Fabian gave Chicharito a taste of his own medicine and scored a poachers goal right in front of the net. He positioned himself perfectly to tap in his first European goal.

Unfortunately for Fabian and Eintracht, Bayer were awarded a PK late in the game. Fortunately for them, Chicharito hit the post and was unable to tie the game as Eintracht took all 3 points at home.

There were 3 goals in the game and Mexicans were involved in all 3. Marco Fabian came out the victor and it was a game he really needed to have. Much has been said about his status with the club, he had not seen the field before today. Mexican journalists were already placing him back in Mexico by the Clausura. But today’s game showed that Fabian still has a feature in Europe. WhoScored.com gave him the MOTM award as he was the highest rated player on either team with an 8.3 rating. He just needs to be given some playing time.

As for Chicharito, that missed PK will haunt him as they do to every player. However, he had a good game and was a big reason why Bayer was able to get back into the game. Bayer still has a few players not at 100% and Bellarabi will be out until January. Once they have a full slate of healthy players, they’ll be back to their winning ways. Today was just Fabian’s day.