The Eintracht Frankfurt women failed in the qualifying tournament for the Champions League. After the last-minute blow to the neck against Amsterdam, the Hessians struggled with converting their own chances.
Defeat can hardly be more painful. It was 1-1 between the soccer players from Eintracht Frankfurt and Ajax Amsterdam. Regulation time had already expired and everything smelled like extra time. But after a corner kick, Eshly Bakker artfully scored with an overhead kick to make it 2-1 for Amsterdam (90+2). “Then it was game over,” said Eintracht coach Niko Arnautis. In a figurative as well as in a real sense.
This year’s Champions League will take place without the Eintracht women. Only with a win on Sunday at the mini qualifying tournament in Denmark against Amsterdam would the Frankfurt women have qualified for the group stage playoffs in September. Eintracht actually had enough opportunities to do so. “Ultimately you have to say that it’s our own fault. We have to take advantage of our chances in a knockout game like this,” said midfielder Laura Feiersinger.
“We had Ajax under control”
In a strong Amsterdam early phase, Chasity Grant gave Ajax the lead (8th minute). Eintracht needed a few minutes to collect themselves, but got better and better and in the 57th minute Lara Prasnikar equalized deservedly. Before that, Feiersinger was unlucky with a crossbar shot (19′), but Barbara Dunst was even more unlucky, whose shot landed twice on aluminum (81′).
“We actually had Ajax under control, especially in the second half. They could hardly get out at the back. We were very close to 2-1,” concluded Arnautis. The fact that the Dutch women were able to celebrate in the end was “very bitter”, said the coach. He is still proud of his team and it should be too. “We deserved it,” said Arnautis. It was difficult to contradict him.
