48,000 powerful-voiced spectators made the 1-1 draw by SG Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-final first leg of the Europa League against FC Barcelona a football festival.
Photo: dpa/Arne Dedert
It was five minutes to midnight when Kevin Trapp – still in his bright green goalkeeper pants – and Oliver Glasner rose together from the podium in the press room of the Frankfurt Arena. The competent goalkeeper and the proud coach of Eintracht Frankfurt were clearly in a good mood and chatted quite relaxed when they left. Exactly fifteen minutes earlier, Xavi Hernandez, the head coach of FC Barcelona, had taken the same door with a rather thoughtful expression. It still seems unclear who will have the better end of the day in the catacombs of the mighty Camp Nou after the first leg of this Europa League quarter-final ended 1-1. Trapp rules out the fact that an epic penalty shoot-out is still needed, in which Eintracht involved Chelsea in the semi-finals of their Europa League triumph in 2019 (after a 1-1 win in the first leg): “We will not prepare for a penalty shoot-out , because we want to play in Barcelona in such a way that we get through straight away.«
Just like the people in front of him, the number one in Eintracht – and number three in the goal of the German national team – has been charged with self-confidence. The Bundesliga club, caught in the middle, firmly believes that they can beat the Spanish club with its tarnished reputation at the Camp Nou. Coach Oliver Glasner was happy about a “fantastic performance” in the draw and pointed out: “We will go to Barcelona with the conviction that we can win there.” Otherwise, the 47-year-old Austrian did not want to complain about a missed victory: ” Then you lose the ground under your feet. It is important to always remain humble.« For him there is »no downer – only compliments«.
“It feels a bit crazy because we’re going off the field with a 1-1 draw against FC Barcelona and we feel like we could have won,” added Trapp. Only one thing annoyed the ball catcher: that he was still reminded of his nightmare five years ago in the service of Paris St. Germain, when the Saarland native experienced a historic 1: 6 defeat against Barça, which was still orchestrated by Lionel Messi. “A different team, a different club, a different situation,” said the 31-year-old, describing his lifestyle since then. And why did he recently play his sixth international match with his colleague Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who works in Barcelona, for the German national team against Israel (2-0) and even fished a penalty kick out of the corner? Trapp assured: “I’m asked again and again, but I can confirm that it’s no longer in my head and no longer matters.”
Eintracht, which has almost regularly surpassed itself in international challenges for four years, actually has the psychological advantage of being able to win a lot, while Barça would lose further international reputation with an out. In the Champions League it wasn’t enough to progress in a group with FC Bayern. At the end of this European Cup duel, which the Frankfurt officials perhaps hyped up as a »game of the century«, the Spanish favorites had 66 percent possession of the ball, but 16:7 shots on goal for the German outsiders.
This is one of the reasons why 48,000 powerful-voiced spectators created an electrifying atmosphere in the sold-out arena in the Frankfurt city forest to the bravura performance of their favorites. The audience only let their heroes into the booths after the waltz and the lap of honor. The Bundesliga home game against SC Freiburg (Sunday 5.30 p.m.) will be used by the supporters to provide backing for the second leg (Thursday 9 p.m. / RTL). Around 25,000 Eintracht enthusiasts want to travel with them, and ten planes have already been chartered. The cardinal question will be how the Frankfurt entourage gets so many tickets. There were even 35,000 ticket requests, said spokesman Axel Hellmann, who only hopes that everything will remain peaceful during the pilgrimage to the Catalan metropolis.
That it would be unfavorable to give up home advantage – this thought also drove Barcelona coach Xavi: “I hope that so many fans will come from us, then we can qualify for the semi-finals.” The 42-year-old politely praised Eintracht for their ” physically strong team«. The best proof: the former Bundesliga bird of paradise Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang barely managed to trick the resolute defender Martin Hinteregger in attack. Captain Sergio Busquets, Pedri and Gavi struggled to control the game in midfield for a long time. Even when Frankfurt’s defender Tuta received a yellow-red card (78th), Barcelona had few chances.
“It wasn’t a good game from us, but a good result,” admitted club icon Xavi. After just over an hour, he had to replace Frenkie de Jong and Ousmane Dembelé, who had previously been rested, in order to experience a move reminiscent of the tiki-taka era, which Ferran Torres completed to make it 1-1 (66′). Previously, the German U21 national player Ansgar Knauff had created the atmospheric highlight with a dream goal (48th). The loan from Dortmund has developed splendidly as a disguised right winger in Frankfurt. “It was an unbelievable feeling to score this goal in front of the curve,” reported Knauff, who was only 20 years old. »From the first minute I felt that something was working.«
However, players, coaches and those responsible are now required to find the switch again for an everyday task. For manager Markus Krösche, the Barcelona experience is the best motivational boost to master the Freiburg challenge on Sunday: “It is extremely important that we do everything we can in the Bundesliga to play in the European Cup again next season.” Sounded like one very plausible argument that Krösche had arrived shortly after midnight.
