For Kristijan Jakic, the journey to the island of the gods was almost divine.

The Croat could hardly believe his luck, but it was true: For the first time in his career as a professional footballer, he was allowed to play for his country.

The fact that it was ultimately only six minutes that the Eintracht professional came on as a substitute was not so important.

The important thing was the jump into the eleven of the world championship runner-up.

"For me, a childhood dream has come true," said the 24-year-old midfielder on Croatian television.

His voice was thick, Jakic had to fight back tears.

Ralf Weitbrecht

Sports editor.

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It is not surprising that Jakic actually made his debut for the Croatian national team in Cyprus last weekend.

The uncompromising clearer between the defensive and offensive departments earned it through consistently good performances in the uniform of Eintracht.

It quickly became clear: Jakic was the best new addition to coach Oliver Glasner's starting line-up.

With an irrepressible will and great zeal, he wanted to quickly realize his dream of the national jersey.

Already in mid-September, in a 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga against VfB Stuttgart, Jakic showed his skills and was one of the best Frankfurters right from the start.

In terms of play, there may still be room for improvement in the actions of the relentless midfielder.

But he acts combative without blame or blame.

Home game against Berlin

“I'm one who doesn't pull my foot back,” he says. On Monday evening, when the German national team qualified ahead of time thanks to the 4-0 win in North Macedonia and became the first team in the world to qualify for next year's World Cup in Qatar, Jakic had hoped for a second work trial in the national dress in his home country at the same time. But this time coach Zlatko Dalic renounced Jakic's martial arts. In the end it was 2-2 against Slovakia. Not exactly the result the Croatians had in mind.

But in qualification group H, Jakic and Co. are still in the race for the ticket for Qatar as second behind the new front runner Russia. Jakic's next chance to play is not long in coming. On Saturday (3:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and Sky) the old lady Hertha will come to the Frankfurt Arena. A win against Berlin is almost a must. After the unexpected coup in Munich, where Eintracht defeated Bayern 2-1, another success would be the right signal to continue to develop in the table.

In order to prepare his team for Hertha, coach Glasner has scheduled a total of six training units. Jakic, who is traveling, missed the first of these and will endeavor to confirm his status as a regular in the second half of the week. Since that game against Stuttgart, Glasner has been very interested in the uncompromising with the shirt number six.

"I have a lot of self-confidence," says Eintracht loanee Jakic.

"I give everything for the team and want to assert myself here." Not only in Frankfurt, but also in the national team in the future.

He could succeed if the daredevil with the will to assert himself, bite and aggressiveness one day turns into a technically skilled midfielder.

Team player Erik Durm sees Jakic's previous role as follows: “He acts as a kind of dust-free and is very courageous.” Qualities that should also be in demand against the uncomfortable Hertha.