Bundesliga soccer team Eintracht Frankfurt will have to do without Mario Götze in the Conference League game at PAOK Saloniki on Thursday evening (9:00 p.m./RTL). As Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller confirmed on Wednesday, the midfielder remained in Germany because his wife Ann-Kathrin is expecting their second child.
“Mario spoke to me during training and also spoke to Markus Krösche beforehand and got our ‘go’,” explained Toppmöller: “There was no question for us about granting this wish.”
In Greece, the Eintracht coach expects “a hot dance” with an “aggressive and strong opponent with a good audience behind them.” The absence of Götze now makes the task of unity in Greece even more difficult. The 31-year-old has played every competitive game for Eintracht so far this season and was only not in the starting line-up once.
Even with the 2014 world champion, they have only managed one win in six games in the Bundesliga. Last weekend there was a 2-0 defeat in Wolfsburg, in which Götze was sent off with a yellow-red card. The offensive in particular has weakened recently, but Toppmöller is sure that Frankfurt will soon get back on the road to success. “The knot will burst. I’m breaking a lance for our offensive players,” said Toppmöller.