At Tuesday, the Frankfurt Eintracht football professionals saw a different face from Oliver Glasner. “It was impressive to see him today,” said captain Sebastian Rode about the coach, who was clearly marked by his accident. “His face was swollen.” In his spare time, Glasner fell on an e-scooter. Because the 47-year-old Austrian broke his cheekbone in the process, he had to undergo facial surgery at the Frankfurt University Hospital last Sunday.
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After his discharge on Tuesday, Glasner met the team directly and started work immediately, Rode reported. The only difference is that the coach won’t win a “beauty contest” this week, the midfielder said jokingly. “Otherwise the injury will not affect or burden him, he completely hides it.” Like the team, Glasner is “very hot” for the upcoming home game this Saturday (6.30pm in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) against Borussia Dortmund, said Rode with respect for the attitude of the football teacher.
At the start of the second half of the season, the Frankfurters, where Gonçalo Paciência and Kristijan Jakic have recovered from their infection with the corona virus, want to show their old face on the pitch. Hessen had won six of the last seven Bundesliga games in their impressive race to catch up. They are now in sixth place in the table where they like to see themselves. “Before the season started, we wanted to knock on the European places again. We want to go this way to the end: first of all, stick with it and finally be in it ”- this is how the captain summed up the goals of the team up to the end of the lap.
Bad memories
He cannot imagine that Eintracht would deviate from the course in the second half of the season, as so often in the past. On the one hand, he said, “the structure of the team makes him optimistic. It’s very focused. We all know we haven’t achieved anything yet. We cannot afford to break in, ”emphasized Rode. In addition, Eintracht have a “busy coach who drives a lot with Glasner. He does not allow stagnation. “
It took eleven match days for the Frankfurters to really get going. They have unpleasant memories especially of the start of the season, the 5-2 defeat in Dortmund. But Rode thinks that this bankruptcy against his former employer should not be compared with the upcoming game on Saturday. “The first game of the season was subject to completely different conditions.”
Today the team is “much more solid. We have a clear plan and a different level, ”he said of the upswing on the Main. That the captain saw coming. “I’ve always believed that it could work. It was important that we found each other much better as a team. “The” mood “, says Rode happily, has” completely changed “at Eintracht.
The captain, who suffered from knee problems, also felt renewed confidence. In the last first round match against Mainz (1-0) he was in the starting line-up for the first time this season and played 56 minutes. In the duel with Gladbach (3: 2) it was almost 70 minutes as a substitute. Rode – “that surprised me too” – held out longer than Glasner had given him credit for. “Sebastian taught me better,” said the coach at the time.
Currently, his injured knee has survived the first training sessions “quite well. It was an intense block, so far I’ve come through well, I hope it stays that way, ”said Rode. In the coming weeks, too, the pioneer on the field “always wants to take a step forward. It’s still a process. ”The short break over Christmas was“ good ”for Rode, in his opinion.
How beneficial this is for his team’s game was shown after his comeback at the beginning of November in the game he won 2-1 in Fürth. Back then, he brought Eintracht 1-0 lead after being substituted on. After that, the Hessians won five out of six games. Much to the delight of Rode. “The whole first half of the season wasn’t easy for me,” he says.
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