First Eintracht Frankfurt loses bitterly and unnecessarily with a late goal against PAOK Saloniki, then on top of that a pack formation develops after the game. Both of these offend the Hessians. But new strength could now arise from this.
Dino Toppmöller had first turned around and it was finally the final whistle. And the late one 1:2 (0:1) defeat in the Conference League group game at PAOK Saloniki was already annoying enough. The Eintracht coach then failed to notice that further trouble was brewing behind him. Because the emotional game went into an extremely unpleasant extension after the final whistle. A few obscene gestures, several strong words, half a dozen angry Frankfurt players and three red cards later, the scene had at least calmed down on the pitch. As a result, Eintracht had to digest two unpleasant scenes.
First of all, the Hessians had of course lost a game in Thessaloniki that they should never have lost. The Toppmöller team put in an appealing performance at the PAOK Stadium, came back after conceding their first goal with a free kick from Andrija Zivkovic (28th minute) in the second half through Omar Marmoush (68th) and controlled large parts of the game. It was all the more bitter that the Frankfurt team once again made it 1-2 with a free kick from Konstantinos Koulierakis in stoppage time.
Billiard goal decides the game
“We allowed almost nothing, apart from the two standard situations that we defended poorly,” emphasized Toppmöller after the game. As usual, Eintracht were good defensively in the encounter, but PAOK didn’t get much out of the game. “It’s bitter that you lose here because of a billiard goal like that,” said Toppmöller. Which would already describe frustration factor number one.
The fact that Eintracht continues to have a lot of patchwork on the offensive was also more than clear late on Thursday evening, but afterwards it was almost a side note. Although the Hessians finally managed to score their own goal again after two goalless games, there was still far too little return for the effort that the Frankfurters put in in the game.
Krösche: “We have to go there Determination work”
“We had a lot of actions going forward, we have to keep working on making more capital out of these situations,” said Toppmöller. Sports director Markus Krösche added: “We have to work on determination.” It was significant that Frankfurt’s only goal came after a serious blunder by the PAOK defense. Even if the defeat due to the aforementioned “billiards goal” was bitter, it must be noted that with significantly more of the determination just described, Eintracht would not have had to be in this situation in the first place.
Either way, the Hessians would have had enough to worry about when the final whistle blew. But the real anger only came with the undignified final chord. Not only that Kevin Trapp saw the red card for reasons that are not really understandable (“Scandal”), it was above all the behavior of the PAOK bank that angered the people of Frankfurt. “The provocations came from PAOK,” summed up keeper Trapp.
The anger should be converted into positive energy
Strong words are said to have been spoken, and there were also obscene gestures towards the Eintracht professionals. Something that Eintracht didn’t want to put up with on the pitch. Several Hesse players were involved and could hardly be calmed down. In short: the anger was there after the final whistle. And now it is precisely this anger that needs to be transformed.
Because as painful as this defeat was with all its accompanying circumstances after the final whistle, it could also trigger something for the Frankfurt team. “We want to transform anger into positive energy,” coach Toppmöller also confirmed. Such a bitter result with such a heated ending can also bring a team together, especially when, like Eintracht, they have many new and young players in their ranks.
Is Heidenheim already feeling the double anger?
Toppmöller therefore announced immediately after the final whistle that PAOK can prepare for a hot dance in the Waldstadion. But perhaps Heidenheim will also feel the double wrath of Hessen in the Bundesliga on Sunday. Then this bitter defeat on the summer night in Thessaloniki would definitely have been good for something.
