DEintracht has always managed to give their football game a level that meets the highest standards and paves the way to success on special occasions. On the other hand, Frankfurt found their master against SSC Napoli.
The efforts of coach Oliver Glasner’s pros were far from enough this time to bring the Serie A leaders to their knees: he proved to be too resilient in his 2-0 win. The two-time Italian champions weren’t impressed either by the initial courage of the Hessians or by the atmosphere in the stadium.
The Frankfurters did not fully exploit their potential over the ninety minutes and therefore had to accept a defeat in the first leg of the first knockout round in the Champions League that contradicted their ambitions. The possibility of moving into the last eight clubs is theoretically still guaranteed: the decision will be made on March 15th when the crucial reunion takes place at the “Stadio Diego Armando Maradona”.
Games involving Eintracht have had a special appeal for some time. Tickets for one of their international appearances have been in great demand, and not just since their promotion to the premier class. On extraordinary occasions like this Tuesday, the demand greatly exceeds the supply: twice the number of tickets could have been sold.
Chaotic scenes in the city forest
After dark, there were chaotic scenes around the arena when the fans arrived, and the police in the city forest were also needed to separate rioters from each other. So there were 47,500 spectators who found admission and because the majority of them were sympathetic to Eintracht, the loud majority of the audience tried many things to help Glasner’s people from outside – ultimately in vain.
Victor Osimhen (2nd from left) ensures Naples’ leadership
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Image: AFP
Compared to the weekend, which brought a 2-0 win against Bremen in the league, the coach made a change in the first starting XI: Aurelio Buta was preferred to Ansgar Knauff. The Portuguese was given the task of keeping the right side tight with his physique – which he partially succeeded in the duel with Chwitscha Kwarazchelia. The Georgian, who mostly went straight to the top, quickly had a good chance to score, but shot over the bar (19th minute). Kevin Trapp was also there in the same minute when Amir Rrahmani tried to header him.
It was the Neapolitans, dressed in white, who repeatedly brought order to their performance with longer phases of possession and moved backwards as a unit when Eintracht tried to attack via Kamada, Jesper Lindström or Randal Kolo Muani. Things got hectic when Hirving Lozano first hit the post and Buta kicked Victor Osimhen in the legs in an attempt to smash the ball away. The scene takes place at the sixteen meter limit and referee Artur Dias awarded a penalty. His judgment was confirmed by the video assistant – but the Italians didn’t know what to do with the moment. Better: Trapp blocked Kwarazchelia’s path and saved his shot from eleven meters (36′).
Great deed: Goalkeeper Trapp saves Kwarazchelia’s penalty
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Image: Reuters
The joy at the brilliant act was short-lived, because shortly afterwards Osimhen struck: After a bad pass from Mario Götze, who wanted to include Djibril Sow, Lozano initiated a counterattack, which was consistently completed by the Nigerian striker to take the SSC lead (40′). .
Eintracht reacted to the deficit with the recognizable will to show more commitment in the second half. However, their switching actions often did not get beyond the initial stadium because they did not manage to pick up speed. Inaccurate passes also played into the hands of Naples, as did a thoughtless entry by Kolo Muani: after almost an hour, the 24-year-old allowed himself to be carried away by a foul on Andre-Frank Anguissa, whom he caught with a stretched leg on the foot – the red card was issued the serious consequence (59.).
Kolo Muani on the ground, he still sees red
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Image: Reuters
After that, Eintracht found themselves outnumbered on the defensive and were able to set (too) few offensive accents to turn the tide. With the 2-0, scored by Giovanni di Lorenzo (65th), it was made clear who would be in charge here and now.
“We have tried everything. The course of the game was very unfavorable for us, even with the red card. Then we were behind and outnumbered,” said Götze on Prime Video.
In the second leg, the Frankfurters have to do nothing less than surpass themselves in order to perhaps surprisingly advance a round. Götze still didn’t give up hope: “We still have a second game. They scored two goals for us, why shouldn’t we do the same?”
