Is the impression wrong or is it correct that you needed start-up time to gain a foothold with Eintracht?

Marc Heinrich

Sports editor.

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It's true, I needed a little in the first friendly matches.

However, I was present in training from the start.

Against Saint-Étienne, I knew that it would be a game that would finally give the grandstands a great atmosphere again.

I was also motivated and wanted to show something.

And I immediately felt at home on the field, with the guys around me.

The fans can come back to football.

What does that change?

Football is even better with spectators.

Of course you have a little more pressure when people sit in the stands and watch you.

But that can also bring you forward: You want to show the audience what you can do.

I also don't think the fans who can go to the stadium now will be directly nagging.

As far as I know fans, everyone is happy that they are finally allowed to go back to the stadium to support the teams.

Of course they want to see that everyone gives everything.

But the feeling of happiness that something is possible that was not allowed during the pandemic will have a fundamentally positive effect on football.  

You scored a goal at the dress rehearsal for the cup game in Mannheim.

Do you see yourself in the starting line-up this Sunday (3.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the DFB Cup and on Sky)?

I do believe that I put a little exclamation mark against Saint-Étienne: You can rely on me.

If we play in a three- or five-chain system, I have an incredibly good competitor in Filip Kostic.

Everyone knows how strong they are.

I also.

Of course I don't want to hide behind him.

I want to learn a lot from him.

Are you only intended as a backup of Kostic?

Or do you have other roles in mind?

I don't see myself as the clear number two.

I definitely want to play as much as I can.

With a back four system, it would be easier for me to get more playing time because Filip might then be able to play in front of me.

In any case, my development is not over.

I didn't score that many goals at Union Berlin, one in the DFB Cup, to be precise (laughs).

And here I met straight away in the Eintracht living room, even if it was just a test match.

I would like to learn from Filip that he is more dangerous up front.

Oliver Glasner makes a committed impression in training, he explains a lot: Have you already internalized what football should look like when it was shaped?

He wants to see that we are active, a lot of pressing, having a lot of ball options and creating opportunities.

It's a style that suits us and that is fun.

In the last friendly matches you also saw that if we are so brave, we can quickly win back a lot of balls and thus keep the opponent away from our goal.

With the strength of our players at the back, we know that there is protection.

This makes it easier to step on the front. 

Why did you choose Frankfurt?