It was certainly not the finish that Mesut Özil deserved in the Frankfurt city forest. Apparently, many fans have still not forgiven him for his noisy resignation from the German national team, otherwise loud whistles would not have sounded when the world champion clapped his teammate Dimitris Pelkas on his substitution after 77 minutes at 1: 1 between Eintracht Frankfurt and Fenerbahce Istanbul missed a penalty he had lost in stoppage time. U21 European champion Mergim Berisha scored in the margin, but ran into the penalty area much too early.
It was the dramatic punchline of an atmospheric European Cup evening in which Özil played a competitive game in a German stadium for the first time in three and a half years. The 32-year-old should be the polarizing figure of this Europa League opener in front of the maximum permitted 25,000 visitors in the Frankfurt arena: When taking a corner in front of the Eintracht curve, beer mugs flew, while on the other side the Fener supporters were not enough Could take selfies.
Erik Durm has a chat with Özil
The native of Gelsenkirchen knows the extreme fluctuations well enough, at FC Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen, then Real Madrid and FC Arsenal, his career has always been between liking and disliking. And at the end of his national team time in 2018, his photos with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his future best man, and his letter of resignation, backed by allegations of racism, overwhelmed German football as a whole.
His move to the 19-time Turkish champion this winter seems to have helped him to find his inner peace again. Almost unmoved, Özil showed his skills on Thursday evening when the number ten initiated a rapid attack, prepared the post shot by Mert Hakan Yandas, and then after a few detours to hit himself. The fact that the linesman initially raised the flag for offside because Enner Valencia had been in the field of vision of Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was actually correct, but then the VAR intervened – and the leading goal counted (10th).
His second competitive goal in the canaries’ dress – Özil had previously scored 1-0 at Adana Demirspor at the start of the season in the Süper Lig – should remain his only statement. He didn’t give any interviews, but said briefly on his social media: “More was possible for us, but despite everything it’s a crucial point.” World champion colleague Erik Durm talked about his chat after the game: “We had a very, very nice time together in 2014. Mesut is a great boy. I just asked about his family.”
Özil had previously emphasized to the sports information service that he felt at home on the Bosporus privately. Daughter Eda is a gift and makes sure “that you can forget an annoying defeat on the football field very quickly”. Fenerbahce had also been his favorite club since childhood. His current coach Vitor Pereira (“I’m very happy with the players and their attitudes”) is currently deploying his most prominent player where former national coach Joachim Löw often let him play in the end: on a half-left offensive position, almost as a hanging left winger .
Glasner still sees a lot of work ahead of him
It is obvious that Özil can no longer come up with the original dynamism, but which world champion of 2014 – except perhaps Manuel Neuer – can claim that of himself. Özil’s ball contacts (42) remained manageable, as did his pass rate (72 percent) and duel record (40 percent). As an eyewitness in Frankfurt, national coach Hansi Flick did not even begin to think about reactivation, but Özil’s offer to his predecessor Löw for a discussion (“Jogi knows his way around Istanbul very well and is always invited to a Fenerbahce home game”) recently in the Space.
The Hessians ask completely different questions. Across all competitions in six competitive games, Eintracht is without a win, which still does not reconcile effort and income. Last-minute loan Sam Lammers met after filing the now pardoned Filip Kostic (41.), but otherwise again in the offensive area much remained patchwork. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but it could be the turnaround in our direction,” said coach Oliver Glasner, who was only able to watch the game in the box because he was still serving an indoor ban from his time at VfL Wolfsburg.
“It was tough for me up there,” admitted the Austrian, who is now starting with Eintracht at his former employer from Autostadt, where Glasner had said goodbye almost without a greeting. To gain the first sense of achievement at the championship leaders Wolfsburg on Sunday (7.30 p.m.) will be a difficult undertaking. But Frankfurt’s new football teacher emphasized almost defiantly: “I see us on the right path. There is still a lot to do, but the basis is 100 percent.”
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