The mood at Eintracht Frankfurt is tense. A new mistake by goalkeeper Kaua Santos is causing anger among teammates and fans.
Stuttgart – It’s probably not easy to be a fan of Eintracht Frankfurt these days. The Eagles had actually hoped to start 2026 with solid, calm results. 3:3 against Borussia Dortmund and 2:3 against VfB Stuttgart – the plan definitely didn’t work. But now everything is getting much worse for the Hessians. New signing Younes Ebnoutalib was substituted injured, goalkeeper Kaua Santos made the next mistake.
It is still unclear how serious Ebnoutalib’s injury is. However, Santos’ performance is not only hotly debated among Eintracht fans. Just a few weeks ago, coach Dino Toppmöller decided: The Brazilian will take over the role of regular goalkeeper again, Michael Zetterer has to go to the bench. Was that the right decision?
Fans and teammates are furious after the next Santos mistake at Eintracht Frankfurt
Santos was unsure about shots from a distance, letting them bounce and making mistakes when leaving his goal. In the 27th minute he completely lost his nerve: a cross from Maximilian Mittelstädt slipped through the young goalkeeper’s hands. He seemed to catch the ball, but immediately dropped it again. Stuttgart scored 1-1, the frustration was great.
In the second half, Santos recovered somewhat from his blackout, but there was no trace of calm and confidence. Explosive: Eintracht defense chief Arthur Theate didn’t like what Santos was doing in his box. The Belgian took his teammate to task, his looks spoke clearly. Goalkeeping coach Jan Zimmermann also compresses Santos.
Robin Koch was asked about the scene in the Sky interview, but wanted to reassure him directly: “He’s still a very young player. It certainly wasn’t an easy phase for him, he hasn’t played for a long time, but now he’s back. He’s a young player with great talent. Of course, a mistake like that is part of it. He knows that too. I’m sure he’ll learn from this mistake.”
In Koch’s eyes, Theate’s lecture wasn’t that bad. The fact that this was addressed directly on the pitch is important and in no way indicates problems within the team. The SGE fans expressed their anger X Air. Slowly but surely they are losing patience in the Santos case.
“As much as I like Kaua, the feeling for the penalty area is so catastrophic,” complained one supporter. This fan puts it a little more drastically: “Little Kaua wants to be picked up from the ball pit.” A bit of gallows humor can also be found in the comments: “I don’t want to brag, but I would have dropped the ball too. So SGE, I’m without a contract. I’ll play to the end of the season for 5,000 a month.”
However, the Eagles never tire of emphasizing: They are disappointed with their entire defense, not just goalkeeper Santos. Or as one user summarizes it: “Absolute lack of concept on the defensive!” One thing is certain in any case: the next few days in Frankfurt will not be quiet. The diva from the Main, as she lives and breathes. (is)
