There were no great gestures of celebration. The players in the white jerseys reacted to the final whistle with an almost businesslike routine, restraint characterized the mutual congratulations: At Eintracht Frankfurt the well-deserved Bundesliga home win against Werder Bremen (2-0) was only the preliminary program for an even bigger game in three days. Everything about the Europa League winner is outshined by the Champions League round of 16 against SSC Napoli (Tuesday, 9 p.m.). Against the undisputed leaders of Serie A, the SGE has made the push into the quarter-finals of the premier class. A successful dress rehearsal without having to go to great lengths came in very handy.
“Of course I’m very happy with our performance. It was great how actively and alert we defended and at the same time scored the goals at the right time. We played it home in a very controlled manner,” said coach Oliver Glasner. “The boys did it brilliantly.” Midfielder Mario Götze was also happy about an “important victory” with which Eintracht positioned itself before the next away game at RB Leipzig in the fight for next season’s Champions League spots. “We allowed very, very little, so we can be satisfied,” said Götze, who has developed into a strong hard worker. Not even the critical sports director Markus Krösche wanted to address any shortcomings. “We won 2-0. On Tuesday we have to put in a top performance to be successful.” And goals will probably not be served on a silver platter like Werder Bremen did.
The hosts didn’t have to try very hard to make it 1-0. After a free-kick from Philipp Max, Kristijan Jakic, who was in the starting XI, steered the ball into the middle, where Bremen’s captain Marco Friedl hit his own net with his unsuccessful attempt to clear (8′). His neighbor Anthony Jung, who had lost sight of the opponent and the ball, was even more disoriented. Randal Kolo Muani, currently the best Bundesliga scorer, made it 2-0, although the Frenchman initially failed with his header after Max crossed goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka – but after the rebound, Ansgar Knauff quickly lifted the ball back to the receiver with the number nine in the middle (52′). Frankfurt’s center forward now has ten goals and ten assists, but prefers to pass on all the compliments for his formidable interim record to the collective.
The courageous words of the Werder coach are not followed by deeds
Because Werder refused until the end to show even the beginnings of an orderly attacking game, the SBU came to the finish in economy mode. In the first half of the season, Eintracht had won a wild spectacle (4: 3) in Bremen, whereupon Werder coach Ole Werner analyzed somewhat soberly that his team had never been confronted with such speed since taking office in November 2021. Now the youngest coach in the league, aged 34, had to state that his ensemble had no chance: “We couldn’t do anything with possession of the ball. We didn’t work out anything to threaten the opponent. The bottom line was that we lacked conviction and courage. “
Without the regulars Mitchell Weiser (ligament injury), Leonardo Bittencout (suspension) and Christian Groß (illness), the green-whites were forced to make a few changes, with Werner’s reasoning for putting the dribbler Romano Schmid on the right wing for track player Weiser getting noticed: “Because we don’t play with five trained centre-backs, we want to find our moments.” However, no deeds followed the courageous words. In forward gear, the guests failed almost everything over the entire season. Mouse-grey jerseys would have suited this staid appearance better than the salmon-colored away shirts.
The Hanseatic League lost four out of six Bundesliga games in the new year, but because there were three of the top six candidates in Union Berlin, Borussia Dortmund and now Eintracht Frankfurt, there is no unrest in the north. However, it was obvious that there was a need for improvement. “We have to show more courage, offer more creativity,” demanded Bremen striker Niclas Füllkrug, who was signed off except for his offside goal in injury time, who also said: “Dortmund and Frankfurt are a different category for us. We have our problems with that.” That was evident in this caricature of a top game.
