analysis
In the round of 16 first leg against Naples, Eintracht Frankfurt played well for 20 minutes – and then they can marvel at the opponent’s class. There is only football in one direction, there is (almost) no more hope.
Eintracht Frankfurt lost the round of 16 first leg in the Champions League round of 16 against SSC Napoli. At the 0: 2 (0: 1) on Tuesday in the Waldstadion scored for the Italians Victor Osimhen (40′) and Giovanni Di Lorenzo (65′). Kevin Trapp saved a penalty kick (36′), Randal Kolo Muani also saw the red card after a foul (58′).
20 minutes looks good
Anyone who watched the first 15, maybe 20 minutes of this Champions League game in Frankfurt’s Waldstadion and held it against the home team from Frankfurt could actually be in good spirits. Eintracht started briskly, played cleverly up front and put Napoli under pressure right from the start.
The only thing missing was the last pass, the brilliant idea to play out the really big opportunities. “We had a very good start, but we didn’t capitalize on that,” Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner summed it up afterwards. And above all: The people of Frankfurt didn’t continue like this. Because after 20 minutes, this football game changed in a rapid way.
70 minutes of one-way street football
From then on, the playing field in the Waldstadion was like a one-way street. And Eintracht drove in the wrong direction and didn’t know how to get out. After 20 minutes, the guests had taken over the field advantages, after 30 they got serious. First Hirving Lozano hit the post (31′), then Kevin Trapp saved a penalty from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (36′) and shortly afterwards Victor Osimhen scored to make it 1-0 (40′).
Eintracht was lucky at this point that it was only one goal behind at the break. “After conceding a goal, we had a phase in which we lost control,” explained sporting director Markus Krösche correctly. For the first time in the game there was a class difference. Unlucky for Eintracht: The Italians didn’t let up in the second half and deservedly scored to make it 2-0 (65′) through Giovanni di Lorenzo.
“We were overwhelmed in some situations,” said Glasner. “We fell today. But that’s important for our learning curve.” Eintracht were shown the limits on one evening against a much stronger team. “The dynamism with which they exploited our mistakes was impressive. Today we simply have to accept that Naples were better,” stressed Glasner. How true.
Trapp saves several times
What is also part of this game is the fact that the 0:2 could easily have turned into a 0:3 or 0:4 – if the Frankfurt team didn’t have national goalkeeper Trapp in goal. The keeper was by far the best man in Hessen, not only saved a penalty, but also saved in the second half in dire need against Lozano and Kvaratskhelia.
It wasn’t the Frankfurt keeper’s fault that the Hessians are now going into the second leg with a two-goal mortgage. “Kevin and Napoli themselves gave us a chance for the second leg,” Glasner emphasized after the game. And sports director Krösche said only briefly: “For me, Kevin is simply the best German goalkeeper.”
Red for Kolo Muani causes discussions
What made the evening really bitter for Frankfurt was what happened in the 58th minute. Attacker Kolo Muani went a bit impetuously into a duel with André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, unluckily hit his opponent with the open sole and saw the red card from referee Artur Dias. A decision that not everyone could understand.
“I find the red card very hard in the situation. He steps on his foot, but both want the ball,” analyzed keeper Trapp on the one hand. “There is a clear rule with the red card: He came a little too late, that’s hard, but justifiable,” said sports director Krösche. No matter how you rated it: Eintracht had to play the last 30 minutes in a numerical inferiority despite the fact that they were inferior in terms of play anyway. If it doesn’t work, it just doesn’t work.
Hope dies last
No Kolo Muani, a 2-0 deficit, away in Naples: Actually, there is nothing that would give the Hessians any hope of being able to hear the Champions League anthem again this season in the Waldstadion. The class difference was too big, the defeat too obvious.
And yet nobody in Frankfurt wanted to hoist the white flag prematurely after this sobering evening. “We will not go to the Maradona Stadium as tourists,” announced Glasner directly. “It’s a result we’re still able to shoot,” added Trapp. It is well known that hope dies last.
