It was fitting for the bitter end that the defeated protagonists were also lacking words at times.

"This defeat is difficult to explain," said Eintracht captain Makoto Hasebe.

Midfielder Djibril Sow added: "I have no answer how that happened." But it happened.

3: 4 at FC Schalke.

Ralf Weitbrecht

Sports editor.

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    A devastating defeat one round before the Bundesliga finals, for which Eintracht and their outgoing coach had planned so much. "The fire is burning - more than ever," said Adi Hütter before the business trip to the west to what is currently the second worst team in Bundesliga history.

    Only two games had won the Royal Blues, who were once big in the premier class, this season.

    Now there is victory number three - against a Frankfurt team that was on the ground in the arena at Schalke.

    "The entire team including the coach failed today," said Sebastian Rode.

    “And there is no excuse for it either.

    We had the unique chance to get into the Champions League - now it's as good as over. ”On Sunday it was finally over.

    Dortmund won, Wolfsburg played a draw, both teams are now four points ahead of Eintracht.

    "The defeat was not planned"

    And for Hütter, everything at Eintracht will soon be over. He will turn his back on Frankfurt and go to Mönchengladbach together with his two assistants Christian Peintinger and Armin Reutershahn. Fredi Bobic ends earlier. May 31st is his last day of work as Eintracht's sports director. Then at the latest, the new Berlin project with old aunt Hertha calls.

    After his last away trip with Hessen to Gelsenkirchen, Bobic said: “This defeat was not planned. It was a wild game that we gave up ourselves. We had the game under control, led 2-1 and then gave it away with three goals against, inviting them to counterattacks and defending them too naively. ”Almost nothing went well in this completely unsuccessful game. "If a team that has already been relegated wants victory more than a team that can still reach the Champions League, then that is very sobering." Clear words from Rode, who still has his heart on the end of the event in Schalke Tongue and did not hide his disappointment.

    After just 15 minutes, the brave Schalke team, supplemented by a few young players, struck for the first time.

    Captain Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the pursuit of a penalty previously held by Kevin Trapp formed the prelude to a scoring of a special kind, which also included Blendi Idrizi (52nd minute), Florian Flick (60th) and Matthew Hoppe (64th minute). ) involved.

    To score four of his own goals in one game, the relegated player had only managed to do that once against Hoffenheim at the beginning of the year.

    The goal difference before kick-off against Eintracht - 21:82.

    "If you lead 2: 1 and lose 3: 4, the disappointment is of course great," said Hütter in his analysis and, after Rode's statements were made, he was meek.

    "We screwed it up together, no question."

    "That simply does not work"

    Almost nothing was to be seen of the playful ease of bygone days. Filip Kostic on the left often stood in his own way and could hardly achieve anything substantial. Timothy Chandler on the right toiled with the usual great zeal, but also failed to sustainably help his team, for which André Silva (29th and 72nd) and Evan Ndicka (51st) scored. "Schalke takes the lead with a penalty, before that I should have made it 1-0 for us," he said self-critically. “Then you score the important 1: 1, take a 2: 1 lead in the second half and then after what feels like 20 seconds you get 2: 2. That simply does not work."

    Looking at the season end, which still has a home game against Sportclub Freiburg on offer, Bobic still demanded a reaction: "We'll try to say goodbye to the league properly," he said and tried to relieve the frustration that was palpable to conceal our own ranks with phrases: "Nevertheless, it was a record season in which we could easily move into the Europa League and have only lost six times so far."

    Overall, Hütter also spoke of a "very good result" after playing 33 games.

    His former Bernese master player Sow, who like most of the team could no longer build on the performances of the former successful weeks, said dejectedly: "A great season gets a bland aftertaste."

    Incidentally, this is how Axel Hellmann also judged. The board spokesman of Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG found, as usual, clear words after the debacle at Schalke. In an interview with the FAZ he said: “If you only get one point from the games against Mainz and Schalke, you have failed in sporting terms. The performance at Schalke was embarrassing. ”The 49-year-old Hellmann was particularly bothered by the fact that this circumstance was painted pink by Bobic and Hütter. “This is not the time to be happy about fifth place or to sell it as a success. This glossing over is the wrong signal. "