AIn the morning they spoke of the “miracle of Basel”. But nothing came of the dream communicated by Eintracht assistant trainer Armin Reutershahn. For the Frankfurt football professionals, the round of 16 is the final stop in the Europa League. The 0-3 first-leg defeat in March weighed too heavily on Eintracht, which also found 147 days later in the second leg no means to significantly impact FC Basel. “We went into the task very bravely. We wanted to do something, ”said sports director Fredi Bobic at RTL:“ But we were not eliminated today, but in the first leg. ”
On Thursday evening, without a spectator in St. Jakob-Park, the team of coach Adi Hütter was beaten again – this time it was 0: 1. That was clearly not enough to make the leap into the quarter-finals in which Shakhtar Donetsk would have waited for Eintracht in the Schalke Arena in Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday. Now the Swiss, who had never prevailed against a German team in the European Cup, have to deal with the Ukrainians.
Eintracht needed goals – many goals. Hütter thought his team was well prepared for this. “The team is hot,” he said. But from the start, you could see that the Frankfurt game lacked Fortüne. Mandatory opportunities remained in short supply. Martin Hinteregger tried his head (19th minute), Filip Kostic with force (32nd) – and Danny da Costa with a free kick (41st). But none of the actions brought the desired success.
Even the defensive Basel were unable to score against Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who parried several times. But their actions were better and more dangerous. Silvan Widmer had two opportunities to take the Swiss lead (25th and 27th). Bruno Huebner, the sports director of Eintracht, criticized the RTL television station during the half-time break, “that the last decisive ball is missing. It’s just too sloppy. “
Hütter reacted, bringing two new strengths with Makoto Hasebe for Evan Ndicka and Goncalo Paciencia for André Silva in the second phase of the game, which should give new impetus. But the Swiss had the greatest chance again. Again it was Widmer who appeared free in front of Trapp and found his master in the national keeper (49th). Hope came when Eintracht midfielder Dominik Kohr entered the Basel penalty area, but failed to goalkeeper Djordje Nikolic (57.).
Kohrs rushing forward as a signal for the long final offensive? Eintracht was now in charge of the game, and again it was Hinteregger who pushed hard for the first Frankfurt goal (60th). Nevertheless, caution had to be exercised. Basle captain Valentin Stocker thought his team was in the lead, but Kostic, who was far behind his options in the offensive, cleared just before the goal line (62nd).
Hütter went back to the game and sent Stefan Ilsanker (for Sebastian Rode) and Timothy Chandler (for da Costa) for the final third of the game. The most important man was still Trapp, who at least kept the 0-0. So also in the 75th minute when he famously saved against Eray Cömert. Two minutes before the end of the regular season, the strong trapp was also powerless. Fabian Frei cleared the last remaining doubts about the deserved entry into the quarter-finals of FC Basel when he scored the 1-0 winner.
For Eintracht, the European journey that started in Tallinn more than a year ago has ended. For a young professional from Frankfurt, the journey continues in the search for the right club and the right class. Eintracht announced before the start of the game that Rodrigo Zalazar will be loaned to second division club FC St. Pauli. Last summer, the Frankfurt team immediately awarded the Uruguayans transferred from Malaga to the Polish top division club Korona Kielce for one season. Zalazar is contractually bound to Eintracht until June 30, 2023 inclusive.
Second leg in the round of 16:
Wednesday August 5, 2020
FC Copenhagen – Istanbul Basaksehir (1st leg 0: 1) 3: 0 (1: 0)
Shakhtar Donetsk – VfL Wolfsburg (first leg 2-1) 3-0 (0-0)
Manchester United – LASK Linz (first leg 5: 0) 2: 1 (0: 0)
Inter Milan – Getafe CF (first leg canceled) 2: 0 (1: 0)
Thursday, August 6, 2020:
Bayer Leverkusen – Glasgow Rangers (first leg 3: 1) 1: 0 (0: 0)
FC Sevilla – AS Roma (first leg canceled) 2: 0 (2: 0)
Wolverhampton Wanderers – Olympiacos Piraeus (first leg 1-1) 1-0 (1-0)
FC Basel – Eintracht Frankfurt (first leg 3: 0) 1: 0 (0: 0)
Quarter-finals:
Monday, August 10, 2020 (9:00 p.m.):
Manchester United – FC Kopenhagen
Inter Milan – Bayer Leverkusen
Tuesday, August 11 (9:00 p.m.):
Shakhtar Donetsk – FC Basel
Wolverhampton Wanderers – FC Sevilla
Semifinals:
Sunday, August 16, 2020 (9:00 p.m.):
Inter Milan / Bayer Leverkusen vs. FC Basel / Shakhtar Donetsk
Monday, August 17, 2020 (9:00 p.m.):
Wolverhampton Wanderers / Sevilla FC versus Manchester United / FC Copenhagen
Finale:
Friday, August 21, 2020 in Cologne (9:00 p.m.):
Winner semi-finals I – winners semi-finals II
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