BERLIN, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Hoffenheim overcame Frankfurt 3-2 by courtesy of Roberto Firmino's late winner at the curtain raiser of the 15th round in Bundesliga on Friday.
Hoffenheim and Frankfurt staged a see-saw match in which the " Eagles" came back twice to restore parity. However, Roberto Firmino snatched the win for Hoffenheim as he poked home the decider with three minutes remaining.
Both sides neutralized their offensive actions in the opening period but after the early substitution of Hoffenheim's Niklas Suele, who collapsed in pain after suffering a knee injury following a tackle, things changed.
Frankfurt took the reins to press Hoffenheim into defense by working out promising opportunities through Alexander Meier and Haris Seferovic, who tested Hoffenheim's goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.
Nevertheless, it were the hosts who broke the deadlock against the run of the game when Firmino initiated a counter attack to pass into path of Kevin Volland, allowing the striker to round Frankfurt goalkeeper Timo Hildebrandt and to slot home into the open goal at the 42nd minute.
Frankfurt recovered from the setback after the break as the " Eagles" equalized the scores with 58 minutes into the encounter. Stefan Aigner was on target as he volleyed home Bastian Oczipka's pin-point cross into the bottom right.
Hoffenheim were under pressure as Frankfurt gained momentum but it were again the hosts who grabbed the lead at the 66th minute, thanks to substitute Adam Szalai who poked home a rebound from very close range, three minutes after his substitution.
However, Frankfurt remained unimpressed and responded with the two all draw just eleven minute later as Haris Seferovic controlled a long cross by Lucas Piazon into the box to beat Hoffenheim goalie Oliver Baumann with a follow up shot.
The hosts were not done with the scoring as Roberto Firmino snatched the late victory for Hoffenheim by slotting home Adam Szalai's back heel pass near the goal area with just three minutes remaining. Frankfurt pressed frenetically for the draw in the dying minutes of the game and they nearly were rewarded but Baumann denied Marco Russ' last-grasp shot on target.
With the result Hoffenheim earn their 6th win from 15 games to move on the 7th place meanwhile Frankfurt slip to the 8th place as their three game winning streak came to an end.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: Schalke host Cologne, third placed Augsburg face front runners Bayern Munich, Berlin see struggling Dortmund, Bremen meet Hannover, Freiburg encounter Hamburg and Mainz clash last placed Stuttgart.