Eintracht defeated Piraeus: A touch of the old European Cup

After the bad performance in the Bundesliga home game against Hertha last Saturday, Oliver Glasner pondered whether he should "put one behind the band" that evening out of frustration.

Only five days later, the Eintracht Frankfurt coach would have had a better reason to treat himself to a drink after work.

His team followed up their worst game this season with the best ever.

In the group game of the Europa League, Eintracht defeated the Greek record champions Olympiacos Piraeus on Thursday evening with 3-1 goals.

Tobias Rabe

Responsible editor for Sport Online.

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And yet Glasner did not want to treat himself to a reward in the form of a drink at a late hour, but only wanted to go to bed to find a few hours of sleep after the grueling evening.

Especially since he had a restless night before the game, as he later announced.

The storm that hit Germany swirled a lot on Glasner's terrace, so that the Austrian had to go out at night to secure everything.

The wind, which had swirled powerfully in Frankfurt during the day, subsided in the evening.

In return, Eintracht showed a furious game.

That wasn't exactly to be expected.

Rafael Borré put Frankfurt in the lead with a penalty he had taken himself (26th minute).

But because Kristijan Jakić played the ball with his hand in his own penalty area, Piraeus also equalized a little later with a penalty kick from Youssef El-Arabi (30 ').

Almamy Touré (45th + 3) made it 2-1 in stoppage time in the first half, before Daichi Kamada took advantage of a goalkeeping mistake and scored the final score in the second half (59th).

In front of 35,000 spectators, the old feeling of great European Cup nights was not back, but a hint of it was felt.

"The victory was well deserved"

That was also the opinion of captain Sebastian Rode, who had been injured since leaving the DFB Cup in Mannheim in August and returned to the field in the closing stages. “The European Cup is always something special. Every new player knows what the hour has come, ”he said. There were only two newcomers in the starting line-up: Jakić and Borré. The purchases Jens Petter Hauge, Jesper Lindstrøm and Sam Lammers, who formed the offensive against Hertha and were badly disappointed, sat on the bench. Only Hauge was substituted on later. It was a clear signal from Glasner.

And the players who were on the pitch from the start gave a clear signal to their coach: You can count on us! It was the old guard of unity, so to speak, who ensured a much better performance and victory. "I'm very satisfied today," said Glasner. “The first half in particular was great. The victory was well deserved. ”Unlike the last time, they had“ more calm in the game ”and were very disciplined. “The players implemented everything that we set out to do.” That made for that cozy European Cup feeling. "I enjoyed it," he said.

Glasner explicitly praised his offensive players, whom, unlike against Hertha, he now trusted. Borré "made a great game", he liked Gonçalo Paciência very much, and Daichi Kamada was "a great player". But was it just the personnel adjustments that caused such a change? Glasner found it difficult, but gave an insight into the processing of the defeat against Berlin. The day after that, clear words were spoken, after which a day off ensured a clear head. And then in the end there was a simple instruction: "Just play football!"

This recipe for success had once led the Germans under Franz Beckenbauer to the title at the world championship. Now Glasner is faced with the task of considering how to proceed. Will he continue to bet on the winning eleven or will those who were out against Piraeus get a new chance? The tendency seems to be that the coach changes little. Because he also saw that it was good "that the young players are now out of the line of fire". On Sunday (7.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and at DAZN), the promoted VfL Bochum continues. So there is not much time left for regeneration.

And Eintracht has some catching up to do in the Bundesliga. On the plus side, in addition to the sensational victory in Munich, there are five draws. That makes eight points and 14th place. It looks much better in the Europa League. Because Fenerbahçe Istanbul (2 points) and Royal Antwerp (1 point) played a draw, the lead of leaders Frankfurt (7) and Piraeus (6) is considerable. But not only the first two places are worth striving for in order to advance. First place has been particularly valuable since this season. Whoever wins the group goes straight to the round of 16 and saves the second round.

But half of the way has just been trodden.

In two weeks the second duel is going to Piraeus.

Then Antwerp comes to Frankfurt before it goes to Istanbul.

"Why shouldn't we talk about winning the group," asked Kevin Trapp rhetorically on RTL.

But the goalkeeper also knows: “We notice that we have to go

.

That we have to concentrate every time and get our performance because we notice that if we play less than 100 percent, then it doesn't work. ”The European Cup obviously helps Eintracht to get closer to this maximum.