Eintracht Frankfurt is the “Team of the Year”
A worthy champion: Eintracht Frankfurt has earned the “Team of the Year” award.
Frankfurt am Main – There they stood, arm in arm, the entire team, lined up like a string of pearls, the Eintracht ensemble that had made such a wondrous journey. That humiliated the glorious FC Barcelona in the legendary Camp Nou with the help of 30,000 frenetic Frankfurt fans in the back and then simply cleared away West Ham. And then, on May 18th, just before midnight in the sweltering furnace of Seville, the dream goal, in the grand final against Glasgow Rangers, penalty shoot-out. More is not possible.
So there they saw, spellbound, loaded, but one could not look, the noble joker, Goncalo Paciencia looked at the stands, nowhere, electrified, but with his back to what is only insufficiently described as a showdown. Paciencia, now in Celta de Vigo, but still a Frankfurter at heart, didn’t see him running, Rafael Santos Borré, the iron gel from Colombia, nerves of steel, four, five steps, and then in with it, in the top left corner . Off, end, European Cup victory. After 42 years. The rest? pure ecstasy.
The night of Seville: heroes were born
Heroes were born on that Spanish night, heroes for eternity, and it was indeed the case, as club president Peter Fischer put it: “This is the greatest moment in the club’s history. It brings tears to your eyes.” This night of Seville will bind this community together forever. This night made the players immortal and forged a strong bond between them. That’s exactly why Eintracht Frankfurt was voted Team of the Year in Baden-Baden on Sunday with 975 votes from more than 3000 journalists. In front of the women’s 100-meter relay (895) and the German national football team (828). It is a great honor, since 1957 only five Bundesliga teams have received this award.
Eintracht has earned it, it has rocked Europe and gained sympathy on the old continent, it has rebelled against the establishment with modest means, it has written a romantic, fairytale story. “It’s a first success for German football, which Eintracht Frankfurt represented outstandingly,” said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. Today he has other worries.
The Hessians have pushed boundaries with their art of playing football. Their ability to suffer makes this team so special, their sacrifice has allowed them to take people’s hearts by storm. Hut off, Eintracht Frankfurt. (Ingo Durstewitz)