Crisis club Eintracht Frankfurt said goodbye to the Champions League with a defeat in the home straight of the coaching search. Eintracht lost 0-2 (0-0) against Tottenham Hotspur on the last matchday of the league phase, which was meaningless for them in terms of sport.
Of all people, ex-Frankfurt player Randal Kolo Muani initiated the defeat of the Bundesliga club with his goal in the 47th minute.
The 27-year-old left Eintracht for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2023 after a training strike and was consistently booed by Eintracht supporters. But he refrained from making a big celebration pose in front of 58,000 spectators. Substitute Dominic Solanke made it 2-0 (77′).
Riera top candidate as new Frankfurt coach
While Tottenham’s victory made it a direct entry into the round of 16, the Hessians had no chance of advancing to the knockout phase with just four points before kick-off.
Instead, the focus remains on finding a coach at Eintracht. The hottest candidate is the Spaniard Albert Riera, who currently coaches the Slovenian club NK Celje and has a contract there until the summer of 2028. The 43-year-old may be on the sidelines in the game against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).
Coach question remains unanswered
That’s why Frankfurt’s last appearance in this Champions League season could also have been the last game for the interim duo Dennis Schmitt and Alexander Meier. The two took over a week and a half ago after the separation from head coach Dino Toppmöller.
“We are still working, there is currently no new status, there is nothing to announce, nothing to report. As long as that is the case, we will remain in the current line-up, also as far as the coaching team is concerned,” said sports director Timmo Hardung in a club interview shortly before the start of the game.
In the duel with Tottenham, the home team had to do without offensive gem Can Uzun due to a muscle injury in his thigh. In addition to Kolo Muani, Spurs also had Bayern Munich loanee Joao Palhinha and former Leipzig player Xavi Simons in the starting line-up.
The ball hit the Frankfurt net for the first time in the second minute. Simons completed an attack over Kolo Muani. However, the goal was disallowed due to an offside position in advance.
The uncertainty after the past few weeks was noticeable in Eintracht. The team played extremely passively and repeatedly made careless bad passes.
Unity first in good luck, then in bad luck
In the 28th minute, Frankfurt were lucky when a long-range shot from Wilson Odobert hit the post. Shortly afterwards, Eintracht keeper Kauã Santos almost started the deficit with a bad pass in his own penalty area. The Brazilian made amends for the faux pas with a strong save against Simons (30th).
Hugo Larsson had Eintracht’s best chance in the first half: the Swede hit the crossbar with a shot from a tight angle (44′).
Shortly before the break, Kolo Muani gave the guests the deserved lead after the Frankfurt defense was not assigned correctly.
Eintracht then tried to equalize, but the eighth-placed team in the Bundesliga was unable to score. Instead, Solanke made it 2-0 for Spurs.
