With FC Barcelona, a real international heavyweight is visiting Frankfurt on Thursday. And with the unity tested on the European stage, there is hope of creating the sensation.
It was a small setback: only 0-0 against bottom Greuther Fürth, missed the chance to overtake 1. FC Köln and Union Berlin in the table. With a win against the promoted team, Frankfurt would be in seventh place after 28 match days. A rank that is expected to enable participation in international business.
Because Eintracht wants to be represented there again in the coming year, be it in the Europa League this year or in the Conference League, which was newly introduced this season.
Good mood: The Ultras are back in Frankfurt’s Waldstadion – here at the Bundesliga home game against Fürth. (Source: osnapix/imago images)
“Game of the Year” in the former Waldstadion
Eintracht Frankfurt has made the Europa League something like their competition. While it is almost a punishment for some teams to play in the sister tournament, which is financially unlucrative compared to the Champions League, the SBU turns international home games into celebrations – including today’s Thursday. Nothing less than the “Game of the Year” against FC Barcelona awaits Frankfurt.
Eintracht President Peter Fischer described the game as the biggest for Eintracht Frankfurt since the 1960 European Cup final against Real Madrid. According to Heribert Bruchhagen, former CEO of Eintracht, no club “identifies with European football, with the Europa League, like Eintracht,” as he told the “kicker” during the week. And Basti Red from the video podcast “Football 2000” also sees a “game of the century” in the encounter with FC Barcelona. “Eintracht is playing for the first time ever in a competitive game against FC Barcelona. As an Eintracht fan, this is an absolute glass ceiling event. What else is to come?”
Basti Red (real name Bastian Roth): The sports journalist and podcaster is a Eintracht fan with heart and soul. (Source: Hartenfelser/imago images)
More thanThe SGE could have brought 250,000 cards to the women and men in the run-up to the game, the anticipation in the city is great. Also because Eintracht has been able to play in front of a full house for the first time in more than two years this week.
Ecstatic major event is imminent
The disappointing 0-0 win against Bundesliga-Laterne Fürth, which was impressively sold out, is now followed by the emotional highlight of the season against the Catalans. “Everyone has been waiting for over two years for the stadium to fill up again and for everything to feel a bit normal again,” Red tells t-online. “I don’t think what happened against Fürth can be compared to what follows against Barça. Dark, floodlights, European Cup, Barcelona – both the fans and the team will be motivated in a completely different way.”
Basti Red: The Eintracht fan is looking forward to the clash with FC Barcelona on Thursday. (Source: Isaac Papadopoulos)
After a good three years of drought, both fans and team are facing the next ecstatic major event. In the 2018/2019 season, ex-coach Adi Hütter’s team fought from round to round, including exhilarating European Cup evenings against Lazio Rome, Olympique Marseille, Inter Milan, Benfica Lisbon and Chelsea FC. “They were a great team back then, I miss them a bit,” Red remembers. None of the “buffalo herd” up front at the time (Sébastien Haller, Luka Jović, Ante Rebić) are playing for Eintracht anymore.
The importance of both games (almost 30,000 fans are planning the away trip to Spain) against Barcelona is something Red does not want to finally assess before the quarter-finals. “Playing against Barcelona in Europe comes very close to the maximum. But I can only say in retrospect whether that will be more important than the 2018 cup final. 2 against Barcelona, I don’t think I would want to swap that for winning the cup.”
Nevertheless: The hype is more than there in Frankfurt, the fans are looking forward to the multiple Champions League winner. “We have Barcelona at home, we want to beat them. And we want to reach the semi-finals of the Europa League,” announced Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner briskly.
It is questionable whether it will be enough against the Spaniards, who have been strengthened again by new coach and club legend Xavi Hernández. Nevertheless, the dream of beating the world club lives on. Or to put it in Red’s words: “I expect the team to be energized. And they will be. It has to be a day when everything comes together.”