Eintracht leads in Barcelona and keeps the premier class duel with the Spanish champions open until the end. But nothing countable comes out. The reason: After the restart there is a brief hullabaloo among the guests.
The Eintracht professionals are annoyed by Barcelona’s double blow.
Bild © Imago Images
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00:42 Min.||Philipp Hofmeister
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Eintracht Frankfurt did very well in the Champions League game at FC Barcelona, even leading at the break, but ultimately the Hessian Bundesliga club suffered an expected and deserved defeat. While the Catalans were able to increase their points account to ten points with the 2-1 (0-1), Eintracht remains at four points and is still in the lead in the table not in a playoff spot. Substitute striker Ansgar Knauff had put the guests in the lead (21st minute of the game), Jules Koundé turned the game around for the Spaniards with a brace (50th and 53rd).
Video
05:45 Min.||hr
Krösche: “We can be satisfied with the performance”
Eintracht retreats and counterattacks
Not surprisingly, Knauff, who had recently been ill, returned to Frankfurt’s starting eleven – he was supposed to pose a threat on the counterattack. Not the worst idea. Otherwise, coach Dino Toppmöller, who had called for a clear reaction after the weak league performance in Leipzig (0:6), focused primarily on condensing the middle. He had three central midfielders in Ellyes Skhiri, Hugo Larsson and Mario Götze, and Farés Chaibi also repeatedly moved in from the left side. Also: not the worst idea.
Although Barcelona were completely superior from the start and had almost 80 percent possession of the ball, Eintracht kept their ranks largely closed. Once, ex-Munich player Robert Lewandowski shot the ball into the net, but foreman Raphinha was offside (10th). In addition, central defender Gerard Martin failed with a long-range shot past Frankfurt goalkeeper Michael Zetterer (14th). However, there wasn’t much more to tell before the Hessian box in the first half.
Nene Brown does Lamine Yamal
At the back, the guests defended uncompromisingly and clearly, and were not above Prince Boateng memory release shots. And at the front, Knauff sprinted after every ball that even came close to flying over the high Barca defense.
And then came that 21st minute and Nathaniel Brown’s moment. The left-back got the ball in his own half and made the Lamine Yamal. Brown dribbled past one, two, three opponents and fed Knauff deep. The attacker sprinted away from Barca’s super sprinter Alejandro Balde, put his body between the ball and the opponent and shot with his left into the right corner. The lead, which Knauff celebrated with a juicy knee slide.
The eye-catching Skhiri could have made it 2-0 shortly before the break when his shot from 16 meters passed 16 centimeters over the crossbar (45th + 1). All in all up to this point: a Frankfurt performance that hardly anyone, actually no one, had expected.
Video
04:03 Min.||hr
Brown: “I’m very proud of the team”
Two goals conceded with a similar pattern
More with what happened after the break. The home team turned the game around in the first eight minutes of the second half. And it happened like this: Barca crossed twice from the left into the middle, twice right-back Koundé rushed up and headed in. While the equalizer was played well by the hosts (50th), the Hessians defended in an absolutely amateurish way to make it 1-2 (53rd).
When a moon ball was passed, goalkeeper Zetterer remained on the line, and the otherwise strong Knauff allowed the goalscorer to nod in unchallenged. There is no question that Eintracht had given away their hard-earned lead far too easily.
Video
01:29 Min.|hr
“The defeat was okay”
hr-Reporter Stephan Reich
Image © hr
The Frankfurters didn’t play badly, especially significantly better because they were more aggressive than in previous games. Overall, Barcelona now had exactly the game they wanted. The home team let the ball run, played Eintracht tiredly on the one hand and, on the other hand, routinely kept the time off the clock.
Visiting coach Toppmöller changed his offensive line for the final phase, bringing in Can Uzun, Jean-Mattéo Bahoya and Jessic Ngankam and even Elye Wahi, who was not taken into account recently. Without success. The Frankfurters lacked the power to mount a late comeback.
Video
04:19 Min.||hr
Theate: “Hope this gives us a boost of self-confidence”
Editor:
Daniel Schmitt
Broadcast:
hr1,
Those: hessenschau.de
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