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Leverkusen (dpa) - Adi Hütter was really frustrated about missing the cup round of 16.

But when it came to Luka Jovic, his mood visibly brightened.

"That is the most gratifying news," said the Eintracht Frankfurt coach after the 1: 4 (1: 1) at Bayer Leverkusen: "That Luka is coming home."

It is indeed an almost fairytale story for the Eintracht fans that caused euphoria before the game.

Luka Jovic, leader of the legendary "buffalo herd", DFB Cup winner from 2018 and one year later after moving to Real Madrid for over 60 million euros after moving into the Europa League semi-finals, will play for Eintracht again.

A few things still need to be clarified, said Hütter.

But they are apparently so marginal that the Austrian immediately raved about his new, old striker.

He telephoned the Serb on Monday, the coach reported: “And I was really happy to hear him again.

He has done everything to make sure that he can come to Frankfurt.

And we get an exceptionally good player in an intact team. "

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But whether Jovic, who will be loaned out until the end of the season, can be an immediate aid remains to be seen.

"I'll see how far he is," said Hütter.

The good thing is: "He knows the team and he knows the club."

For Eintracht Jovic scored 36 goals in 75 competitive games.

But at Real, the 23-year-old stand clearly failed today.

He was allowed to play in 32 competitive games, five of them this season.

He scored a total of two goals, only once did he play for 90 minutes.

The last time he was on the pitch was over two months ago.

For seven minutes.

But that doesn't matter in Frankfurt at first.

Jovic is supposed to replace Bas Dost, who surprisingly switched to Club Bruges.

But it should also spark euphoria.

The transfer, according to Hütter, is “a special signal to the outside, but also to the inside”.

It's bitter that Eintracht's cup journey will end before Jovic's arrival.

Especially since the defeat in Leverkusen was unfortunate, even unnecessary, despite the clear result.

After the early lead by Amin Younes (7th), who was soon to be replaced, Eintracht fell behind with an unlucky hand penalty by Lucas Alario (27th) and an offside goal by Edmond Tapsoba (49th), conceded a counter hit by Moussa Diaby ( 67th) and in the majority after red against Jonathan Tah (73rd) even another (87th).

"All in all, it annoys me that we missed a chance," said Hütter: "But it's your own fault."

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The imminent return of Jovic was a consolation after all.

2nd cup round

Cup round of 16

Press conference after the game