Time was of the essence.

Axel Hellmann wanted to "quickly draw a line" during the season, which ended on Saturday with a 3-1 win against SC Freiburg.

“And to have an eye for new things,” said Hellmann.

Eintracht, that was already clear before the match with the Breisgauers kicked off, ended the season in the Bundesliga in fifth place.

And so, after the summer vacation, during which all professionals who will not be in action at the European Championships in the coming weeks, were able to leave on Sunday, will be represented internationally for the third time in four years.

Marc Heinrich

Sports editor.

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    The conclusion that the board spokesman of Frankfurter Fußball AG came up with was not a clear one, but instead admitted that he was “torn between the facts and the emotions, which are not so easy to reconcile. One thing is clear: With a little more stamina in the last few meters, the Champions League anthem would soon be heard for the first time. But after the announced departure from coach Adi Hütter in the direction of Mönchengladbach, they got off the road to success.

    With seven game days to go, Eintracht had a seven-point lead over Dortmund as the first pursuer.

    A seemingly comfortable cushion that could not be saved to the finish line due to the defeats against the "Fohlen" -Elf, Leverkusen and Schalke as well as the draw against Mainz.

    "It is therefore important for Eintracht Frankfurt's self-image that you couldn't go back to the agenda afterwards," Hellmann explained his interjection, with which he accused Hütter and Fredi Bobic, the sports director, who was moving to Berlin, with "blessing" a week ago.

    The disappointment that many people have felt is also "an expression of love for this club".

    Hellmann's intention: to smooth the waves

    On Pentecost Sunday, the 49-year-old lawyer wanted to smooth things over. Just looking at the numbers, Eintracht had "an outstanding season": 60 points, bought a Europe ticket early, no home defeat and André Silva (28 goals) is the second most successful goal-getter in the Bundesliga - there is indeed a lack of superlatives Not. However, what lowers the satisfaction of many whose hearts are attached to unity is the fact that a historic opportunity was given away lightly.

    The slump in performance in crucial moments is not just due to the life and career plans of Hütters and Bobic, but also lies in the “team mentality”. Working through this knowledge and deriving the appropriate conclusions from it is one of the first tasks that the new sports director and the still-to-be-found successor for Hütter would have to undertake when assessing the future viability of the squad. In May 2021, after 15 months in which the pandemic fundamentally changed life, Eintracht would be “financially and athletically” “stable”. Hellmann explicitly thanked Hütter and Bobic in this context. “You have played a decisive role in ensuring that the prospects for the future are good. They made the club better. "