The Eintracht Frankfurt women continue their European trip in Eindhoven. But the Netherlands should only be a stopover. After the victory in Wolfsburg, the SGE is brimming with self-confidence.
The Eintracht Frankfurt women travel to the round of 16 first leg of the Women’s Europa Cup at PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday evening (7 p.m.) on an emotional high. However, the departure was slightly delayed. Before the final press conference, a fire alarm went off and the schedule was postponed by a few minutes.
Coach Niko Arnautis knew how to record the template and concluded: “We are always alarmed.” As expected, there was no contradiction after the recent victory against the top team from Wolfsburg. The 3-2 win was a bit chaotic, but the bottom line was an exclamation mark that emphasizes the development of the past few weeks.
Recently stable performances
Suddenly it almost seems as if everything at Eintracht is following a big plan. The upheaval in the summer was followed by some expected hiccups at the start of the season. Recently, however, the Hessians appeared to have clearly stabilized. Even if the high-flyers from FC Bayern have already taken off: In third place, Frankfurt are only three points behind Wolfsburg.
“I believe that the team has grown and matured in the last few weeks. They have mostly shown great performances both in Europe and in the league,” said Arnautis. After Real Madrid’s hurdles on the European stage proved to be too high in the early stages of the season, it could fit into this narrative that the SGE is now writing its own success story in the newly created UEFA Women’s Europa Cup.
After confident progress against 1. FC Slovacko in the first round A slightly bigger name is now waiting for the team of coach Niko Arnautis in the two round of 16 duels with PSV Eindhoven. Where would he rank the Dutch in the Bundesliga? “It’s always difficult to assess,” says Arnautis. But during his video study he saw “some good players” and a “very, very good team”.
Your own DNA is in the foreground
The coach doesn’t want to be irritated by who is on the other side anyway. He always just wants to adapt “nuances”: “In the end, we have a certain DNA and the plan is always to do our thing.” The Frankfurt team will have to do without Sophia Winkler, Ainhoa Alguacil, Marthine Østenstad and Amanda Ilestedt. There is a question mark over the use of national player Nicole Anyomi, who recently complained about cold symptoms.
Immediately after the press conference we took the bus towards the Netherlands. By the way, the fire alarm turned out to be a false alarm. Of course, Frankfurt women don’t want this to be seen as a bad omen.
