Eintracht Frankfurt: Fortuna calls it a day
Eintracht Frankfurt has to accept a severe setback in the fight for the European starting places with the 1: 2 against SC Freiburg, but is still looking forward to Barcelona.
In the end, this time defensive edge Martin Hinteregger, who was a bit under tension, didn’t go back at all. It was 2-1 in Eintracht’s home game against SC Freiburg, deep into stoppage time, and “Hinti” thought he could try it as a center forward. Unfortunately, no ball came forward at all, and when referee Felix Brych blew his whistle for the last time after 95 minutes, Hinteregger dropped his head and put his hands on his knees. All the power that the odd guy, who got caught up in all sorts of skirmishes that Sunday and could even be glad not to have been thrown off the field after a stupid slap in the face, with a slap.
1: 2 against SC Freiburg, who didn’t really know how he earned these three points in the end. “We don’t have to be ashamed of the win, but we had good efficiency and a lot of luck,” said coach Christian Streich and was spot on.
It was not the case that Eintracht played the stars from the sky, they struggled at the beginning, it faltered and jerked, and yet they had a lot of bad luck, leaving the game without anything countable. “It’s a very bitter defeat,” said Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner. “The result hurts brutally because I saw a lot that was absolutely fine.”
Especially in the final phase, Fortuna, the goddess of luck, refused to follow: First, substitute Ajdin Hrustic fired the ball brilliantly into the inside post of the Breisgauer box (84th), and two minutes later Daichi Kamada was a few centimeters with his header to supposedly equalize 2:2 i am apart artist pitch.
Coach Glasner didn’t want to grieve for long. “I’m very proud of the boys. What they tore off commands my respect and was worthy of all honor. The performance makes me very confident.”
Especially for Thursday, when the ceremony is in Spain, the quarter-final second leg in the Europa League at FC Barcelona. Then after the 1-1 draw in Frankfurt it is important to make it clear that they will go into the semi-finals. That is the stated goal. “We will now gather strength for this highlight game,” said coach Glasner.
And yet: This defeat was a severe damper for the European ambitions in the league. “Fifth place is far away now,” explained sporting director Markus Krösche. “But we will not change our goals.” Under certain circumstances, even seventh place would be enough for an international starting place, then in the Conference League. But even with five games left, five points away. In the end it wasn’t enough, that’s what it should look like, the bad home record would also be to blame. From 15 games in the Waldstadion, Frankfurt only got 17 points – 16th place. “If you get three points at home against the last six in the table, you’re not likely to become German champion,” Coach Glasner escaped in gallows humor. So the race to catch up in the direction of Europe won’t work.
Before things really got going in Frankfurt on Sunday, nothing worked at first, because shortly after the kick-off, two activists had the apparently long-held idea of storming onto the field and tying themselves to the post of the Eintracht goal with cable ties around their necks . Keeper Kevin Trapp, slightly taken aback, spoke briefly to the two men, but had no success, even abusive chants from the stands had no effect. The two demonstrators evidently belong to the “Last Generation” environmental protection movement, which has caused a stir with some radical actions in recent weeks. They wore shirts that read, “Stop the fossil madness!” Play was suspended for three minutes before the men were cut free from the post and led away.
When the party got going again, it was as if the quick break had pulled the plug on the players, which of course doesn’t have to be causally related. “It took us 15, 20 minutes to shake off Thursday,” analyzed Glasner. “We found it difficult to get used to it, to accept the intensity.”
Rafael Borré shot wide after eleven minutes, and Jens Petter Hauge, who had been in the starting XI for the tired Kamada, fell far too lax into the arms of goalkeeper Mark Flekken a few minutes later. The leadership of the Breisgau was not in the air either, but still. After a bad pass from Evan Ndicka and poor defensive behavior from Tuta, it was Vincenzo Grifo who ran to make it 1-0 (27′).
Eintracht, who also lost Djibril Sow early on, who had to go out with an unspecified injury to the inner ligament (31st) and was sent for an MRI scan, only came out stronger in the second section, when she seemed tired and mental to have shaken off inertia. Filip Kostic turned up the heat and equalized after a nice pass from Hauge (54′), and the hosts kept the pressure on.
The goal was scored again by Freiburg and of course by Nils Petersen (69th), who has already scored nine goals against Eintracht (more than against any other club), seven of them as jokers. “We caught Eintracht on a good day between the two highlights against Barcelona,” said the SC striker, and also concluded correctly in the verbal work-up: “And we had the necessary bit of luck.” You can leave it that way.