The unusual stress caused by the many additional game dates has been an issue that has been bothering coach Niko Arnautis for some time. Especially since the Frankfurter Eintracht women’s squad is small and has a clear performance gap from position 13 to 14.
But the topic has not become the focus of the Hessians. “There’s no such thing as tiredness if you’re always up for it,” Arnautis said on Wednesday. “We control it so that the girls can go all out.” In this case, full on victory when the SGE plays its second home game in the Champions League group phase in the arena this Thursday evening (6.45 p.m. on DAZN).
“Certain lethargy”
Because we need a complete success in the duel against Benfica Lisbon in order to maintain realistic chances of reaching the quarter-finals. The game in Portugal was lost 1-0 a week ago after a poor performance.
“While the Portuguese had a lot of fire, for some unknown reason we all had a certain lethargy,” said attacker Laura Freigang to the FAZ. “I’m glad that we still have everything in our own hands.”
Benfica and Eintracht are vying for second place in the group behind defending champions FC Barcelona. Because Barça is too good and FC Rosengård is significantly weaker, the direct comparison with the Portuguese could be crucial. In order to equalize this, you now need a success with a one-hit lead; to gain an advantage, a win by at least two goals.
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The fact that Benfica didn’t appear overpowering last week makes national striker Freigang optimistic. “We now have the quality to dominate even with a lot of possession. “It will be a completely different story here at home,” said the 25-year-old.
