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Frankfurt end with horror in the Champions League

Dhe Eintracht was not able to add another episode with a happy ending to their football history, which is rich in experiences of success. Oliver Glasner’s team clearly missed out on reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The Frankfurters also found their masters in the second leg at SSC Naples with a 3-0 defeat after having already lost the first leg 2-0 in front of their home crowd.

The encounter outside the arena was accompanied by violent clashes between rival fan groups.

Against an opponent who was mentally one step ahead of them in decisive scenes, the Frankfurters only managed to set accents in phases. Napoli reacted to their courageous approach, which they illustrated with an offensive line-up, with security, which was fed by a functioning defense and internalized processes in switching actions. The Italians repeatedly forced Eintracht to make mistakes that gave them ball wins and periods of calm in which they could plan their goal-oriented advances.

Although they were forbidden by the Interior Ministry in Rome, then by court and also by the Prefecture of Naples with reference to riots in the first leg on February 20 in Frankfurt, hundreds of Hessian supporters made their way to Frankfurt the metropolis of Campania. They had brought support from Ultras from Atalanta Bergamo, with whom they have been friends for a long time, which caused additional explosiveness, because the Lombard supporters, in turn, have a deep hostility to the Società Sportiva Calcio.

Security forces patrolled in large numbers, which was intended to prevent the hooligans from meeting – in vain: around the Piazza del Gesú in the center there were street battles in the afternoon, in which violent criminals from both camps attacked each other, ignited pyrotechnics and attacked police officers.

As could be seen on videos, masked people threw tables and chairs. At least one car of the Carabinieri went up in flames, and shop windows of bars and restaurants were demolished. The “Corriere dello Sport” wrote of a “guerrilla war”. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser disapproved of what happened. “This violence tonight is to be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” ​​wrote the SPD politician on Twitter, adding: “Violent and chaotic people are destroying sport.”

Glasner had criticized the unilateral stadium exclusion of Eintracht sympathizers. But their absence will not affect the game, he believed. The Austrian said that despite everything, he and the team would benefit from the “positive energy” that the locked-out fans mentally transferred to his players. This hope was not fulfilled.

First, Kevin Trapp fended off a shot from Matteo Politano after 56 seconds. After that, the Frankfurters temporarily implemented their idea of ​​​​early pressing. Above all Stanislav Lobotka, where the threads come together in the midfield of the Neapolitans, tried to put them under pressure at the level of the kick-off circle at the latest. Mario Götze drove his colleagues forward. Rafael Borré had the opportunity to take the lead after a corner kick, but his header went wide of the post (10′). What Eintracht’s efforts consistently lacked was consistency and speed on the final pass, so Napoli had little trouble countering in time.

They also made it clear how to be more goal-oriented. After Trapp had narrowed the angle against Chwitscha Kwarazchelia (43′), the keeper had no chance right before the half-time break: Victor Osimhen, unchallenged by Tuta and Aurelio Buta, pushed the ball into the top right corner to make it 1-0 (45′). +1).

This setback made Eintracht’s task even more difficult mentally – and the impression they gave in the second half looked more disillusioning. Frankfurt continued to try as best they could, but the men in blue kept them well away from the danger zone with a concentrated performance and quickly struck with determination themselves: Osimhen completed a combination in the style of an energetic goalgetter, which Frankfurt just didn’t have ( 53.).

A foul by Djibril Sow on Piotr Zielinski also resulted in a penalty kick, which the Pole himself converted to make it 3-0 (64′). So all doubts were removed: Napoli easily brought the comfortable lead with practiced sophistication in the fourth win in the fourth home game of this Champions League round over time.

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