Bundesliga battle

Kovac sees Frankfurt crash at Leverkusen

berlin — Niko Kovac insisted Eintracht Frankfurt won’t use his appointment as Bayern Munich coach next season as an excuse, despite their 4-1 thrashing at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.

Frankfurt’s plans for next season were thrown into chaos on Friday when Bundesliga champions Bayern confirmed Kovac, 46, will join them to replace Jupp Heynckes as coach in 2018/19.

“Trainers and players come and go, my team will not use this as an excuse,” Frankfurt coach Kovac told Sky.

“Everyone is professional enough, because we know we can achieve a European place next year - I am convinced of that.”

However, the performance at the BayArena did not back up Kovac’s words as Frankfurt’s Champions League hopes suffered a heavy blow. This was the Hoffenheim 2 Hamburg Hertha 2 Cologne Leverkusen 4 Frankfurt Stuttgart 1 Hanover 0 1 1 1 first time this season Frankfurt have conceded four goals.

Germany hopeful Kevin Volland boosted his chances of making Joachim Loew’s World Cup squad, to be named on May 15, with a hattrick for Leverkusen.

The thrashing left Frankfurt sixth, five points from fourthplaced Leverkusen — and a Champions League place — with four games left.

Germany international Julian Brandt gave Leverkusen the lead with a deft header — his first in the Bundesliga — on 20 minutes. —