All eyes of the Frankfurt Eintracht are on an unusual event abroad this Monday.

The round of 16 matches of the Champions League will be drawn from 12 noon in the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.

The Hessians are represented in the premier class for the first time in their club's history, and they qualified for the next round at the top level as second in Group D at the first attempt.

Having set the next exclamation mark internationally means "a lot" to him, the whole club and the environment, said captain Sebastian Rode on Saturday evening in ZDF's "Aktuelle Sportstudio".

The newcomer's coup makes Eintracht "simply sexy".

The audience enjoyed Rode's statement.

George Daniels

Editor in the sports department

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His preferred opponent from the premium segment would be Real Madrid.

Because with the defending champion, the Frankfurters “still have a bone to pick”.

As a reminder: The Hessians lost the Supercup final between the Champions League winner and the Europa League winner on August 10th in Helsinki 0:2.

The football greats Manchester City, Chelsea FC, SSC Napoli, FC Porto and Benfica Lisbon are also possible Eintracht opponents in pot 1, all group winners.

The Frankfurters have never met Manchester City in a European competition.

Against all other possible competitors, Eintracht has played at least one game in a knockout round in the past 30 years.

As runners-up in the group, coach Oliver Glasner's team initially has a home game.

The two-legged round of 16 matches will be played between February 14th and March 15th next year.

Before that, the World Cup will take place in Qatar in November and December.

So far, only Frankfurt's resurgent Mario Götze is considered a possible candidate for the final World Cup squad of national coach Hansi Flick, goalkeeper Kevin Trapp has his place secure.

Rode, who had led his team at Sporting Lisbon to a decisive 2-1 win in the second half of the game, would also be "a man for beautiful World Cup moments", he was indirectly asked by the presenter in the sports studio.

His answer: "Maybe - but I think not in this life."

Diva from the Main?

Rode presented himself in a good mood and witty during his evening trip to the television on the Lerchenberg in Mainz.

A few hours earlier, a few hundred kilometers away in Augsburg, the midfielder thought he was “in the wrong movie” – due to the great moment of shock for Eintracht when FCA professional Mergim Berisha scored the 1-0 lead after just 32 seconds of the game .

Frankfurt's plan to follow a good Champions League game with a decent Bundesliga game - which Eintracht has struggled with in the past - came under threat early on.

The Hessians seemed to be staying true to their reputation of being the diva of the Main.

But they managed to get their recurring fickleness under control in Augsburg.

Rode scored to make it 1-1 (13th minute) before substitute Ansgar Knauff scored the 2-1 winner (64th).

Rode has had four shots on target in this Bundesliga round, three of which ended up in the opponent's goal, giving an impressive hit rate.

As a tireless champion, Rode also played his part in the 64 minutes – then he had to be substituted with calf problems – that Eintracht didn't afford what they saw as an annoying slip in the duel with Augsburg.

"Fighting and running like this again today after the game in Lisbon is great cinema for our team," said their captain.

Rewarding backbreaking work

Physically, Glasner sees his team, which is bursting with strength, in “great condition.

Miraculix is ​​in the dressing room with us,” said the coach and grinned.

"The challenge at the moment is more of being mentally ready." On the 13th match day, his team brought up the necessary mentality to successfully hold their ground in the physical game against an unpleasant opponent.

Backbreaking work, so to speak, that paid off.

The Frankfurt team, who won six of their last seven competitive games, have come very close to the top of the Bundesliga table.

"I don't know how a top team is defined.

If you win the Europa League and then don't count as a top team, then I don't know.

We are among the last 16 teams in the Champions League.

Are there only top teams, or is that coincidental?” Glasner had recently said when asked and clearly expressed his opinion.

In Augsburg, the Frankfurt acted in the style of a top team.

Full of conviction in their own abilities, they drew their line.

Playful and combative.

With 52 percent of duels won, Eintracht was stronger in duels than their challenger.

"It was important that we didn't let the early goal concede throw us off course, but continued playing as if nothing had happened," said Knauff.

With his substitution in the 46th minute of the game, a fresh breeze and a lot of speed came into the Eintracht game.

Knauff was also asked in Augsburg about his preferred opponent for the round of 16 in the premier class.

Apparently, the steam generator on the soccer field doesn't have one.

"Let's see who we can knock out in the round of 16," he said.

But that shouldn't sound arrogant, Knauff isn't the type for that.