Frankfurt football reality: Suddenly Eintracht has no prospects

A scene after the game between Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt showed how much football coaches sometimes live in their own world.

The job was done and all the reporters' questions had been answered when Urs Fischer approached Oliver Glasner and hugged his colleague.

"I'm really looking forward to your draw," Fischer said in the tone of a friend, but only got a puzzled look from his counterpart.

"Your draw," repeated Fischer, and now Glasner finally seemed to understand.

"It was already.

We're playing against West Ham," he replied, and now Fischer was somewhat surprised.

"So is it like in the Champions League that the pairings are fixed beforehand?" he asked and Glasner nodded.

Urs Fischer can deal with the modalities of the Europa League with a clear conscience.

After beating Frankfurt 2-0, his 1. FC Union is preparing to start in this competition next season.

With four games left in the Bundesliga, Eintracht has little chance of qualifying.

The gap to the Berliners is eight points.

"That's quite a clear gap.

At the end of the year we will be where we deserve to be," said Glasner.

The game in Berlin was a reflection of the past few weeks and led to the realization that Eintracht should hardly be more than a single-digit place in the national table.

Eintracht had almost nothing to oppose against rested and highly motivated Berliners.

Travel strain and physical fatigue took their toll after the emotional high point in Barcelona.

"You could see that we weren't physically and mentally able to perform at our best," said Glasner.

Glasner: "Don't give away a game"

That was not surprising at first and then again, because the coach changed his team in six different positions.

But these players were also part of the team that made their mark in club history by progressing at FC Barcelona.

"It's incredibly difficult to be ready again three days later," Fischer said in the direction of his colleague.

For Glasner and his team, the main thing in the coming weeks will be to find an attitude to the last league games against Hoffenheim, Leverkusen, Gladbach and Mainz in view of the lack of sporting prospects.

"We don't give away any game," says Glasner, but he also knows that the priorities are elsewhere now.

In the semi-finals of the Europa League against West Ham, Eintracht could make it into the international final for the first time in three decades.

Three years ago, Frankfurt were in the same position, but failed in a dramatic semi-final on penalties at eventual winners Chelsea.

This time Eintracht wants to do better and reach the final.

A win in the Europa League would not only be of enormous importance for reasons of prestige.

The winner automatically gets a starting place in the financially lucrative Champions League.

It is no longer possible for Eintracht to qualify via the Bundesliga.

The reason for staying in no man's land in the table is the modest second half of the season, in which Frankfurt only secured twelve points from thirteen games.

This is contrasted by the thrilling performances in the Europa League.

The fact that the Frankfurt squad was only made to shine in a competition became clear again against Union, even if Glasner verbally introduced himself to his footballers.

“I was very satisfied with the players and their commitment.

It's difficult when half the team is new.

Many have not played together before and are not in rhythm," he said.

Those who were given an opportunity by the coach to show themselves could not use it.

Jens Petter Hauge did not recommend himself offensively, nor did Goncalo Paciencia, in midfield Ajdin Hrustic just followed behind and Timothy Chandler was barely able to plug one of the huge holes on the right that the bustling Berliners tore.

Voting problems were one problem, exhaustion another, but to make matters worse, the Frankfurters made life difficult for themselves.

Defense chief Martin Hinteregger was too easily shaken off by Taiwo Awoniyi before the 0:1.

Hinteregger's furious reference to foul play went unheeded by the referee and video assistant, even though Glasner emphasized that it was a foul for him.

Kristijan Jakic was even more unfortunate when he lost the ball in his own penalty area and started the 0:2.

The mixture of reservists and tired European Cup heroes proved fatal.

No matter what Glasner tried, nothing worked.

In the second half, Eintracht failed to score a significant shot on goal.

"The players tried everything, squeezed everything out, but the lemon was empty today," said Glasner, who gave his team two days off.

"We deserve it," he said.

Knowing full well that he will not reap any objections to this.