AMSTERDAM – The Bundesliga shuttered its season on Saturday afternoon, with Timothy Chandler going the distance to help Eintracht Frankfurt match its second-best top flight finish of the last two decades on the strength of 2-1 closing day victory over guests Bayer Leverkusen.
With Bayer backup netminder David Yelldell watching from the away dugout, Chandler struggled a bit through one of his least impressive appearances in recent months. Nevertheless, he did manage to pitch in with eight positive passes in or into the attacking half, three tackles and a clearance in his own area. By winning for the seventh time during an 11-game home unbeaten streak, Eintracht reached ninth place at the finish line.
Elsewhere, Fabian Johnson worked the final 26 minutes as Champions League-bound Borussia Monchengladbach were cooled off in time for summer by a 3-1 home loss to Augsburg.
Playing up top, Johnson teed up Max Kruse for a crack at goal seven minutes from time, but the striker could not keep his curler down. The US handyman then had a golden chance to knot the game at twos in the 87th minute, only to fire over from 12 yards away in the left channel. Third place 'Gladbach saw their 13-game bulletproof run in league play halted by their first home defeat since early February.
