At 2:29 p.m. on Tuesday, Albert Riera enters the press conference room in the ProfiCamp. The new Eintracht coach, an impressive 1.87 meters tall, wears training clothes. At his side was Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche. The room is filled to capacity. There’s someone in the spotlight on his second day at work in Frankfurt. The 43-year-old Spaniard Riera wants to be called “Albert” or “Coach”. His official language is English and he speaks it fluently. The former national player (16 games) smiles as he takes his place on the podium.
His answers to the many questions are detailed. That’s a good or “very good question,” Riera says on occasion. He speaks with a lot of facial expressions, and his eyes are occasionally wide open. He acts with lots of gestures. Riera is brimming with self-confidence in his new workplace.
Big, sometimes pithy words can be heard from him – as if he wanted to eloquently explain away the Frankfurt football crisis. “If I tell a player to jump off the balcony, he’ll jump” – that’s one of his statements. Thinking small is not his thing. The Spaniard, who has a lot of temperament, is a person of conviction and he presents himself accordingly. From his point of view, a sense of optimism is now the order of the day.
Riera is supposed to give the team “support”.
The Frankfurt team have been without a win for eight competitive games, and they have been feeling very depressed and somewhat helpless over the past few weeks. The club’s sporting leadership and the team were longing for orientation amidst all the adversity. “We had a save-yourself-who-can mentality,” criticized Krösche on Tuesday.
In some cases “we no longer worked as a collective”. A lack of structures also contributed to this. Riera’s predecessor Dino Toppmöller had to feel addressed. A new compass was needed on the command bridge. With Riera there is now a coach who gives the team “support”. Someone who doesn’t doubt his abilities. “Albert is someone who is convinced of what he does,” said Krösche.
And now the new man, the father of two who was born in Mallorca and is married to a Russian woman, is making a promise on day one at Eintracht: “Of course we will also lose games,” said Riera in the club’s own media, “but I can guarantee that we will win more games than we lose.”
As a coach who has worked primarily in Slovenia and briefly in France, he only lost 27 percent of his games. But it’s not enough for him to be successful just by numbers. Frankfurt’s football must also be impressive in the future.
His goal is “that the fans are proud of the way we play football,” said Riera and announced: “We will create something beautiful.” He wants to “create an identity,” a style that “will reflect a lot of Tiki-Taka.” Just: “That doesn’t mean everything. We want to play well. But we also want to win.”
Self-doubt doesn’t bother Riera because he knows “how to do it. I’ve done it in the past and I’ll do it here.” He will be measured by the implementation of his plans. His contract is scheduled to last almost two and a half years; as things stand, the agreement with Eintracht ends on July 1, 2028.
Riera has great respect for his Spanish homeland or the Italian Serie A. But he “wanted to go to Germany and work there,” said the coach. There are many “strong clubs” here.
Koch will probably remain captain
Riera’s boss, sports director Markus Krösche, is sure that he has found the best possible solution when selecting a coach. He and the Spaniard met for the first time at a dinner together two and a half years ago and they have been in contact ever since. “Now we believe Albert is the right coach for the right moment.
He always achieved extraordinary things in his stations,” said Krösche. Candidates like Marco Rose did not. “The obvious solution is not always the best solution,” said Krösche, without naming names. Riera, who was congratulated by several coaches – including Pep Guardiola – on his job in Frankfurt, is expected to give the team the persuasiveness necessary to win games.
“A player with self-confidence is 50 percent better than one without,” says the football teacher. His players would receive a plan and a clear concept from him. “The players want solutions. Every time you step on the pitch, you will know what to do,” he told the professionals.
He shouted to them at the first training session under his direction on Monday: “Football is all about timing. Everyone has to know what to do at all times.” There hasn’t been enough of this to be seen on the pitch among the professionals in recent weeks. In the first few days with Albert Riera, the players have to do hard work – on the pitch and for theory in the conference room. It is still unclear who will be captain under Riera, but he sounded as if Robin Koch should keep the job.
His players would only get in trouble with him if they didn’t follow his instructions. “If a shot doesn’t go in or a pass or a cross doesn’t arrive, I can forgive that,” said Riera, who values versatile players. “But if we don’t stick to the plan or our idea, I can’t forgive it.”
Riera takes a positive approach to things. For him there are no problems, just options. It’s simple: “If we do something wrong, we change it,” he said. Riera often chooses clear words. He is a different type of coach than his predecessor Dino Toppmöller, who was not a man of many words and did not show his self-confidence to the outside world. In this respect, Markus Krösche will also have to adapt.
It will be interesting to see how their collaboration develops in public. “What does culture change mean? Every coach has his own style. With his clarity, style and conviction, Albert will help us get back on the road to success,” said Krösche. However, he did not want to reveal a specific goal for the remaining 14 Bundesliga games. Krösche only said: “Our ambitions have not changed. We want to play internationally. We would do well not to call for attacks.”
Riera is a sore loser
Riera is not lacking in emotions. He is said to be a coaching volcano. Someone who, as a “competitor” – “no office, I need the green,” in his words – is extremely ambitious and success-oriented. Who can motivate his team to perform at their best and expects them to follow him and give their all.
However, he has a hard time losing, which has probably led to him overreacting in the past. Especially during his time at Girondins Bordeaux, Riera offended fellow coaches with his dominant manner. They missed respect in their interactions with each other. “We had fights that were sometimes borderline. But sporting fights only have one reason: I want to win so badly that sometimes I do things that afterwards I think: Oh dear, Albert, you didn’t have yourself under control,” Riera told the “Bild” newspaper last Sunday at the press conference of his former club NK Celje after the game in Maribor.
In his answer he referred to previous opponents. In France, Riera was accused of possibly slapping an opposing player in the locker room. Looking back, the trainer did not want to give a precise insight into what happened at the time.
Riera should be very respectful when dealing with his coaching staff and his players. He is always open to your concerns. However, the football teacher is not afraid to make personally tough decisions; he can be uncompromising if he sees his goals at risk. At NK Celje, Riera often changed goalkeepers without regard to names, as the performance delivered is what counts most for him.
In Frankfurt, where the flood of goals conceded has not subsided in the past few weeks, Riera’s decision is now eagerly awaited as to whether Kaua Santos will retain his regular place in the away game this Friday (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) against Union Berlin. The young Brazilian is currently not showing the confidence that is necessary for a goalkeeper with high standards.
Michael Zetterer could therefore receive a new chance for probation. “For me, the best goalkeeper is the one who wants to win games.” Riera did not specify a name. Eintracht did not sign a new player on Monday at the end of the winter transfer period. Albert Riera is said to be satisfied with the existing squad.
After 57 minutes, Riera’s entertaining introductory press conference on Tuesday was over. It went as expected without incident. In 2022 in Ljubljana, a few masked ultras massively disrupted Riera’s first press event. They insulted him.
His predecessor, who was released by the club president, was popular in Ljubljana. This later also applied to Riera, who was unimpressed by the initial events and won titles with the club. Now all that matters to him is Frankfurt. Becoming champions and cup winners in Slovenia with two clubs was “a good start” for him.
“But in football there is never enough. What has happened has happened and is in the past,” said Riera. “There is no credit in football.” He is firmly convinced that he will be able to build up new merits in Frankfurt. “You can achieve a lot with self-confidence,” he says. The words must now be followed by actions.
Keep reading
