After a bitter collapse, Eintracht Frankfurt missed an important step towards the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Coach Dino Toppmöller’s team clearly lost their “friendly duel” against Atalanta Bergamo from Italy 0-3 (0-0) and has to worry about the play-offs and national player Jonathan Burkardt.
Ademola Lookman (60th) cracked the Eintracht defense, which had previously been lucky with two hits on the post. Ederson (62′) and Charles De Ketelaere (65′) increased a little later. Shortly before, Burkardt had limped off the pitch injured.
With four points from five games and three defeats, Eintracht now urgently needs success to secure a place in the top 24. On December 9th we go to FC Barcelona at Camp Nou. Atalanta, on the other hand, has a good chance of being in the play-off race with ten points.
It was clear to Toppmöller that it would be a groundbreaking game against the second Italian opponent in a row in the premier class. However, he didn’t want to hear anything about a “small endgame”. “We know how important the game is, that we can take a big step towards the play-offs,” he said: “But after that there will also be one or two games.”
Eintracht Frankfurt in aluminum luck
The home game in front of 59,500 spectators was a friendly one: the two teams share a fan friendship – even though they met for the first time in a competitive game. Both fan camps presented banners in each other’s national languages, and the Bergamo fans also held up their scarves during the Eintracht club anthem.
Toppmöller surprisingly had the same starting eleven as in the away win in Cologne four days earlier (4:3). And they had more possession of the ball at the beginning against the “friends” from Bergamo. Farès Chaibi had his first chance after ten minutes when he shot too centrally. Then Ritsu Doan found Robin Koch after a short corner, who headed just over the goal (15th).
Eintracht slowly but surely got going offensively, with the nimble Doan in particular causing problems for Atalanta with his speedy dribbling. Suddenly Eintracht had a problem: First Lookman shot completely free in front of Michael Zetterer at the post, a few seconds later Gianluca Scamacca hit the aluminum in almost the same place (35th).
Eintracht Frankfurt caught off guard
Bergamo performed much better after the break, but Eintracht were caught cold: after a duel with goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi, Burkardt was unfortunate and apparently injured his knee. He was only able to leave the pitch with support from his supervisors; Jean-Mattéo Bahoya replaced him.
Eintracht were obviously in shock – and Lookman was completely free shortly after the change at the second post. Less than two minutes after his opening goal, the strong attacker served Ederson, who swung the game completely in the guests’ direction with his goal. Frankfurt threatened to collapse, De Ketelaere decided the game with his third goal in five minutes after Scamacca hit the crossbar.