Frankfurt/Main (dpa) – For minutes, the proud European Cup specialists stood in front of the highly satisfied fans and let themselves be celebrated. During the loud “Eintracht-Frankfurt-Walzer” one could get the feeling that the giant hurdle FC Barcelona had already been cleared out of the way.
In fact, the 1-1 draw against the World Club was an evening that people in Frankfurt will rave about for a long time to come. In the quarter-final duel with the Spanish favorites, it was only a first step.
“We had them on the brink of defeat, so we remain very, very humble. We’re incredibly happy with the performance. We’ll go to Barcelona with the belief that we can win there,” said head coach Oliver Glasner after the draw thanks to Ferran Torres, the guests equalized a dream goal by Ansgar Knauff. The Austrian Glasner felt no anger or frustration shortly before midnight, although his team had the better chances and Barça fought at eye level.
“Today trouble, then you lose the ground under your feet. It’s important to always remain humble,” said Glasner, who saw his tactical guidelines implemented almost perfectly in front of 48,000 spectators on a memorable football evening. The star ensemble around Pedri and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hardly developed in the Frankfurt city forest and was still well served with the draw.
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said: “We have to be self-critical. We didn’t play well but we got a good result. You can lose but we drew. In the end we can be happy with the result.” The former world-class kicker puts everything on the Camp Nou factor, where the second leg will be played next Thursday (9 p.m.) in front of more than 90,000 spectators.
Then the Eintracht fans want to get involved again. Officially, the Hessians are only entitled to a contingent of around 5,000 tickets, but Eintracht is of little interest in their Europe madness and after two hard years of a pandemic-related break. “We have 35,000 ticket requests for Barcelona,” said spokesman Axel Hellmann before the first leg on RTL. The good starting position should only further fuel Frankfurt’s desire to travel. However, planning the trip is always complicated because the flights have been overbooked since shortly after the draw.
Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who defused a powerful Torres shot after just three minutes, saw the team’s “outstanding game”, but felt not only happy after the final whistle. “In the end it’s a bit crazy because we left the pitch with a 1-1 draw against Barcelona and we felt we could have done better,” said the international goalkeeper. You have “created a position in which everything is possible”. Defender Tuta, who had to leave the field after a yellow-red card, will be absent in the second leg.