Aurelio Buta could hardly believe it. “It was the first time I played two games in a row. I didn’t think that was possible.” Oliver Glasner, the coach of Frankfurt Eintracht, made it possible by doing what was required: letting Buta play for reasons of performance.
First-class because of the league requirements, but also first-class because Porto-born Buta, who also has Angolan citizenship, did his job really well as a game. The winger, who recently turned 26, was there from start to finish in the 1-1 draw in Munich.
No competitive game in 2022
A week later, when Hertha was defeated 3-0, the same. Buta was also one of the eleven starting eleven candidates in the 0:3 defeat on Sunday in Cologne, before he was off work in the 66th minute. Buta was substituted for a team-mate who also has high hopes of being more than just a substitute on the right flank: Ansgar Knauff.
Actually, Buta should have been on the ball for Eintracht earlier. But Glasner’s hopes of building on the services of the Portuguese, who switched from Royal Antwerp to Frankfurt in the summer, were dashed. Two serious muscle injuries and an operation complicated by a hospital germ prevented Buta’s early debut.
In the whole of 2022 he did not appear once in a competitive game. He is now all the more pleased that he can make his dream of the Champions League come true. When next Tuesday (9:00 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and on Amazon Prime Video) the prospective champion squad from SSC Napoli present themselves under floodlights at Eintracht for the round of 16 first leg to the sounds of the premier class, Buta counts on good chances. “Champions League, everyone wants to go there,” Buta said in a media round on Wednesday after the public training session: “It’s an absolute dream. We are ready.”
The fact that Buta has been in full possession of his strength and ready for a few weeks was already evident in the 3-0 home win against Schalke. The right wingman scored his first Bundesliga goal. Two weeks later, when they also won 3-0 against Berlin, Buta scored again. “Everything fits with my body now,” he said, adding: “I have to be careful.”
Careful that he can withstand all physical strains. But at the same time intrepid and optimistic to continue being a prime candidate for the run-intensive right flank post. Buta knows that “everything happened very quickly with him recently. I had to get used to it first,” he said. “I trained hard for my comeback. Now I enjoy every training session and every day.” He also enjoys the freedom of movement in Frankfurt, which the city offers him in many different ways. Buta lives not far from the Alte Oper and appreciates the short distances to the city centre.
It goes without saying that after the defeat in Cologne against Bremen next Saturday (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) compensation should be made immediately. Buta sees himself and his colleagues well prepared for the competition with Werder. “Everyone on the team has a lot of energy and passes it on,” said Buta. Energy alone will not be enough not only to survive against Bremen in the Bundesliga, but also against Naples on the big football stage.
After the slip-up in the Rhineland, Eintracht, unbeaten for weeks, needs to return to the old virtues that made the team so strong, successful and sometimes unpredictable. Buta has been a part of this community for a very short time – and wants to continue to be so in the future.
