Applause only broke out twice in the second half in the stadium at Brentanobad.

On the one hand, when the number of spectators of 2030, which had not been reached for a home game for a long time, was announced.

On the other hand, when Géraldine Reuteler, who had recovered from a one-year injury break, scored a beautiful goal (85th).

A hit at full speed.

A goal from full conviction landed after the final whistle Merle Frohms.

And of a verbal nature, which illustrated the shock in the cosmos of the women of Frankfurt Eintracht.

The national goalkeeper spoke on Sunday afternoon of "temporary refusal to work" in relation to her back team.

From an "attitude thing".

And that this team “probably cannot handle a small pressure situation”.

Merle Frohms eroded the narrative that Eintracht had recently built up, that this SBU vintage could act on an equal footing with the top teams in the women's soccer Bundesliga.

When it came down to it, in the heightened struggle for Europe, this was not the case.

The 1:4 home defeat against VfL Wolfsburg was a real setback – in terms of the table, but even more for the self-image of the SBU.

The league leaders had made short work of the Frankfurt women and the game was already decided at half-time given a 4-0 lead.

It was a lesson for the Hessians, who had eleven internationals in their starting lineup, but didn't pass the matriculation test they had hoped for, but had to accept without ifs and buts that the Wolfsburg women are several sizes too big for them on good days.

In his effort to dig up something positive on a messed-up afternoon, head coach Niko Arnautis said: "It was important that we didn't go under completely in the second half and that we kept the result within reason."

Not up to the situation

Captain Laura Freigang also said that the priority in the second 45 minutes was to "save face".

At least this was possible against an opponent who switched back to a hard-nosed management mode between two Champions League quarter-final games against Arsenal.

The Eintracht women, on the other hand, did not seem to be up to the situation from the start that it was not about gaining experience and limiting the damage, as in previous years against the select Wolfsburg squad, but about important points in the fight for the European Cup qualification was to be fetched.

Especially since last year's cup final, which was lost just after extra time, and the 2:3 loss in the first half of the season after a 2:0 lead gave reason for hope.

Before the week with two highlights against the first and second, the Frankfurt women had given themselves confidently to be able to underpin their upward trend this season with results against the league elite.

Now the eight-day balance sheet from the games at Bayern Munich and against Wolfsburg is: zero points, 3: 8 goals.

The Frankfurt women have four games of the season to catch up three points plus the significantly worse goal difference compared to Turbine Potsdam, which is in third place.

A project that still seems possible in view of the fact that there is still a direct duel in Brandenburg and the overall significantly more difficult remaining program in Potsdam.

The hope that, given the international break for the Eintracht men, the best spring weather and a sportingly attractive duel, more spectators than usual would come to the stadium at Brentanobad came true on Saturday.

The good mood dampened the early goal from Jill Roord (9th), which was preceded by a lack of defensive behavior in Frankfurt.

This continued with set pieces, a well-known strength of the Wolfsburg team, which has many great players.

Neither Lena Lattwein's header (14') nor Roord's second goal made it possible to speak of a strong Frankfurt resistance.

Arnautis complained that the team had to “fight back more and throw in everything they had” in the duels woman against woman.

National striker Freigang said meaningfully that "the presence in the box made it clear who was going and climbing up" - namely the visitors from Lower Saxony.

Merle Frohms bad mood should have manifested itself especially after the fourth goal.

VfL played cat and mouse with Eintracht in the penalty area before Pauline Bremer was able to push the ball over the line (45').

And Frohms must have longed for the approaching day at that moment, after which she hardly had to fear goals of this kind.

She moves to Wolfsburg at the end of the season.