BEsser it could not have come from the point of view of Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner. A picture-book schedule for Frankfurt at the start of the season: Magdeburg, the cup opponent this Monday (8.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the DFB Cup, on ARD and on Sky), is Glasner’s “most attractive lot” in the first round . He describes the German champions Bayern Munich, with whom the Hessians will have to deal with at home on Friday (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga, on SAT.1 and DAZN) at the start of the first division, as the “most attractive opponent in the Bundesliga”. .
And the UEFA Super Cup opponent and Champions League winner Real Madrid – the game will be played in Helsinki on August 10 – Glasner places in the category “probably the world’s most attractive opponent”. In terms of attraction and fascination, the start of the new season for Eintracht cannot be surpassed.
The cup game in Saxony-Anhalt in the second division promoted team offers the greatest drop for Frankfurt. Once before, they only lived up to the role of favorites there with great difficulty and a lot of effort – six years ago, when Eintracht had only been able to prevail in round one on penalties against Magdeburg. The then goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky prevented an embarrassment with two saved penalties.
As far as embarrassments in the cup are concerned, the Frankfurt practice: In August 2018 they lost 1: 2 to the regional league club SSV Ulm in the first round. And in the previous season, Waldhof Mannheim was the end of the line for Eintracht at the start of the competition with a 0:2 loss. Now it is important in Magdeburg to “do better, win the first competitive game right away to give us a good feeling for the Bundesliga. Approach the task with the necessary seriousness” – that is the motto of striker Rafael Borré, who should be in the starting line-up.
Krösche: “Definitely get ahead”
This attitude is entirely in line with sporting director Markus Krösche, who has set the clear objective of “definitely making it through the next round and playing a better cup season than last”. That shouldn’t be art for the Europa League winner. According to their high standards, Frankfurt must be able to prevail against the ninth in the second division, who has won one game and lost one so far.
The Hessians strengthened their very solid pre-season with four wins, a draw and only one goal conceded in finding each other quickly and successfully. “We were able to strengthen the team spirit again and are well prepared to achieve something big,” Borré told the club’s media. According to the Colombian international, those responsible managed to form a compact team with “good reinforcements”.
Frankfurt would now “feel ready,” said coach Oliver Glasner on Friday. “We just have to show it in Magdeburg.” Before the cup game in Mannheim, Eintracht was also “ready” in his opinion. “But then we didn’t show it.” Glasner doesn’t want to repeat his mistake when he replaced captain Sebastian Rode after 45 minutes. “This time I will not rest anyone so that they can play against Bayern,” announced the coach. “It’s enough to be eliminated once in the first round.”
Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who was suffering from an infection, returned to team training on Friday. We can count on his use in Magdeburg. There is hope for defender Evan Ndicka, who has also been able to practice with the team again after several days out of action. If his calf problems are no longer noticeable at the weekend, the Frenchman will probably be there in the cup match.
“We’re going into the new season with clear and great motivation,” said Glasner. “We were able to make good use of the time in preparation to integrate the new players and refresh everything with the old ones.” The attractive opening program is motivation enough for Eintracht.
