Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League: Sovereign on the Bosporus
Ztwo weeks before Christmas a great wish of unity came true. The Frankfurters, who recently experienced the first half of the season, in which much in the Bundesliga business did not work as hoped, managed to deliver an all in all sovereign performance under international circumstances: At Fenerbahçe Istanbul, the team of coach Oliver Glasner came to the end of the preliminary round in the Europa League to a 1-1.
With the draw, after three wins and two draws, the Hessians, whose progress was already certain, claimed first place in the table in Group D. Thanks to the point win, the Glasner ensemble achieved through a performance in which some interesting approaches before the break whistle were there, Eintracht qualified directly for the round of 16 in UEFA’s second most important team competition.
Both the fact that the winner, this time only with a reduced delegation on site; Among other things, Peter Fischer, the club president, who had repeatedly criticized the policy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the past, stayed in Frankfurt.
Eintracht also had to do without fans, who would have to loudly support them, by order of the security authorities on the Bosporus. With reference to the Corona situation, tickets may not officially be sold to fans of the visiting team. “We are very happy,” said sports director Markus Krösche, commenting on the performance. He particularly praised the performance right from the start: “That was very good from the guys. Compliments to the team. “Right winger Timothy Chandler also said in a good mood afterwards:” We went through the group unbeaten and are now building on today’s first half. “
Suspense until the end
The manageable crowd of visitors, only 15,000 had turned up, got to see a soccer duel, in which Die Eintracht went with a practical line-up. Only Jens Petter Hauge slipped into the starting line-up. The Norwegian was preferred to Goncalo Paciencia on the offensive and replaced Jesper Lindström, who was passing due to muscle problems in his thigh. At Fenerbahçe, Mesut Özil, who scored the opening goal in the 1-1 first leg in Frankfurt, was consistently on the bench. The Frankfurters start as Glasner had announced. He loves an “active” commitment of his eleven in the prospect that they will “act themselves” and not wait and see things happen. No sooner said than done – at least in the first 45 minutes.
Rafael Borré after 180 seconds, but his shot was too unplaced to get Berke Özer into trouble between the posts of the “canaries”. Daichi Kamada’s attempt also lacked force and precision to shoot the ball into the net (10th minute), while Kristijan Jakic’s advance was stopped at the last moment – Turkish defender Nazim Sangaré struck the bullet-ready Croat in between (23rd). Her ball possession rate, which was sixty percent in the first half, reflects the superiority of Eintracht, which Jakic let another opportunity slip by (26th) before she struck.
The fact that the defensive midfield organizer was able to intervene so often in the front was due to the fact that Fenerbahçe brought next to nothing to create danger in the last third in front of Kevin Trapp. From a combination of Kamada, Filip Kostic and Djibril Sow This then happens the deserved 1-0 for the Frankfurters at the time – the Swiss pulled from a short distance, after his colleagues had cleverly staged him, untenable in the lower right corner ( 29.).). A failed defense by Makoto Hasebe played the surprising role in the cards. The Japanese hit the ball, which landed at Mergim Berisha: The German U-21 striker overcame Trapp from a few meters (42nd).
Because he noticed how in the second section he observed the balance of power to threaten Fenerbahçes and he wanted again for fresh momentum in the attack, Glasner brought Paciencia after an hour for Borré, who had not been determined until then. The Portuguese fits into the top as a run-friendly play-off point, but did not come to the end in such a way that he could have demonstrated his goal-gettingter qualities.
So it remained exciting until the end, with Eintracht reacting to the outcome with relief: the hands of many of their protagonists joined together after the final signal in tentative cheering gestures in front of the Istanbul night sky. The draw at the end of February will show how things will continue for the Frankfurt team in the European Cup on March 10th. More prestigious clashes are imminent: the next opponents are Barcelona, Seville or Porto.