Champions League: Eintracht Frankfurt disenchanted by SSC Naples

Eintracht Frankfurt clearly loses the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League against SSC Napoli and needs a small miracle in the second leg. Randal Kolo Muani will miss out after receiving a red card.

Eintracht Frankfurt missed the hoped-for surprise against SSC Napoli on Tuesday. The Hessians lost the round of 16 first leg in front of their home crowd 0: 2 (0: 1) and are therefore on the verge of being eliminated from the Champions League. The goals for the clearly superior guests from Italy were scored by Victor Osimhen (40′) and Giovanni Di Lorenzo (65′). The dismissal of Randal Kolo Muani, who will miss the second leg, made the day perfect (58th). The quarterfinals are a long way off.

Unity starts strong

Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner made one change in the Frankfurt starting eleven compared to the 2-0 win against Werder Bremen: Aurelio Buta replaced Ansgar Knauff on the right wing, and Kristijan Jakic surprisingly took over the job in the middle of the back three. As a result, old master Makoto Hasebe was only left with a place on the bench.

Eintracht’s plan was then quickly seen on the pitch: The Hessians let the Serie A leaders have the ball and waited for early ball wins. A project that worked well in the initial phase and posed problems for the guests from southern Italy. Eintracht pressed early and created two chances to score with their aggressive style of play: after nice preliminary work by Jesper Lindström, Daichi Kamada and Randal Kolo Muani missed (5′), shortly afterwards Mario Götze missed a long-range shot (10′).

Trapp saves a penalty, then meets Osimhen

Eintracht started well, but then Napoli got stronger and stronger. Coach Luciano Spalletti’s team repeatedly threw long balls at the fast strikers, making life increasingly difficult for Eintracht. Napoli clearly dominated the game, but then let Eintracht in the game twice: Hirving Lozano initially only hit the post (35′) after a dream pass from the defense, then Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (36′) failed from the penalty spot to Kevin Trapp. Buta had previously fouled Osimhen after an oversight in the penalty area.

Eintracht wobbled alarmingly and then got the receipt after a Götze misstep. The Italians did what Eintracht wanted to do and used a squeaky clean counterattack, gilded by Osimhen, to get a deserved lead. Just two minutes later, Evan N’Dicka frittered away the ball while building up the game, inviting Osimhen to score what he thought was his second goal (42′). However, since the Nigerian was just offside, it remained 0-1 at the break. At this point, a flattering result for the Hessians.

Kolo Muani is sent off

Those who had hoped for an improvement in the second half were bitterly disappointed. The guests, who gained more than 70 percent possession of the ball, clearly dominated the game. Eintracht, who made far too many bad passes and lost the ball, could only thank goalkeeper Trapp for not having to bury all quarter-final hopes prematurely. The international goalkeeper made brilliant saves against Lozano (55′) and Kvaratskhelia (56′), but shortly afterwards the dream of a surprise was doubly shattered.

Crucial scene number one: Kolo Muani dribbled the ball a little too far in front of him, then went straight through and open-soled opponent Frank Anguissa in the ankle. Referee Artur Dias, who was right next to it, pulled out a red card without hesitation and sent Kolo Muani off (58′). A hard, but ultimately justifiable decision.

Crucial scene number two: Kvaratskhelia served Di Lorenzo with the heel after a nice combination, the moved up right-back remained ice cold and finally pulled the plug on the game with his goal to make it 2-0.

Kamada misses a chance to make it 2-1

Eintracht, who were already clearly inferior with ten men and could not always keep up physically, from then on only ran behind and largely limited themselves to not catching more goals. This plan was successful – and shortly before the end Kamada could have scored the goal after the best Frankfurt attack of the game (82nd). But since the Japanese forgave, it ended up being 0-2 and the realization that Naples was a size too big in this game.

One thing is clear: in the second leg, an increase in performance and a small miracle are needed. Kolo Muani will not be able to help with that.