Ein a very special piece of football history has actually repeated itself. You had to wait for 21 years. On Saturday, when Eintracht faced Hertha BSC in front of their home crowd on the eighth Bundesliga matchday, it happened. A good two decades ago, Frankfurt soccer professionals managed to win 2-1 away in Munich. In the following home game in 2000, Berlin came to the Waldstadion – and the game was lost for Eintracht. Like now in October 2021.
Again, the Eintracht team of coach Oliver Glasner went into the duel with Hertha with the recommendation of a 2-1 success at Bayern – and it was lost now. It was 1: 2 in the end. A sobering, well-deserved result, because Eintracht showed a weak performance. The Hessians are now fourth in the table, next Sunday it is time to present themselves in a significantly better shape at the newly promoted VfL Bochum, who are directly behind. “We all, including myself, are to blame for this defeat and are very disappointed,” said Eintracht coach Glasner. “We were far too prone to making mistakes in the build-up of the game and it felt like we lost all duels.”
Glasner was visibly disillusioned with this low blow against Hertha. “We developed a little more pressure in the second half, but it was too simple-minded. We just didn’t get it on the pitch. ”His Berlin colleague Pal Dardai was in a good mood when he returned home to the capital. “We played a perfect first half today. After 45 minutes it could have been 3-0. “
32,000 spectators in Frankfurt
In order to finally achieve the first home win of this season, Glasner relied on a new quartet from the start. Evan Ndicka, Makoto Hasebe, Jens Pette Hauge and Sam Lammers were in the starting line-up. Stefan Ilsanker, Tuta, Almamy Touré and Rafael Borré, who were still in demand when Bayern won, found themselves on the bench against Hertha.
When the game got halfway up and running, it was already 0: 1. It was a sometimes strange goal that the Berliners succeeded in achieving. Vladimir Darida had played the ball into the Frankfurt penalty area with a mixture of shot and cross, where Marco Richter brought his hair thinly into the game and completed the surprising Berlin lead. Eintracht keeper Kevin Trapp had no chance of defense. The goal hit the mood, because up to this point it was loud in the Frankfurt arena. 40,000 spectators were admitted by the health department, 32,000 ultimately watched the encounter and ensured an appealing atmosphere, especially at the beginning.
Hertha did it skillfully, because coach Dardai’s team, which relied on uncompromising midfield pressing, condensed the rooms and did not let the unity develop. On the contrary: it was again the capital city club that appeared dangerously in front of the Frankfurter Tor and could have increased it to 0: 2.
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