DEintracht’s 0-0 win against Greuther Fürth, which was a disappointment for the Hessians in their core business of the Bundesliga, was not long ago on Saturday when Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner should already be dealing with the next zero number. One that is still a long way off, because there is a big question mark over whether it will come about. With a goalless draw against FC Barcelona, who this Thursday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Europa League and on RTL) honored the World Cup arena for the quarter-finals in the Europa League, he would “maybe be satisfied after the final whistle,” shared Glasner at the press conference with self-confidence.
But he never goes into a game and says in advance that he will be satisfied with a draw. Even the “big FC Barcelona” would not change his attitude. So the Austrian sent a challenge to Spain from the “heart of Europe” and emphasized: “We will also play to win against the big FC Barcelona.” Which the outsider has to prove in view of the Herculean task.
“The greatest games since the 1960 final against Real Madrid”
Since last Saturday, 5.30 p.m., after the final whistle of the botched dress rehearsal against the top division bottom, there has really only been one topic in football-mad Frankfurt: FC Barcelona. The Spanish giant, whose sporting home is first and foremost the Champions League, is on everyone’s lips. And from day to day it will also get more and more firmly established in the minds of the Eintracht players. Their trainer gave a detailed insight into the extraordinary game preparation with his staff for the special showdown. Glasner firmly believes that every player will have watched Barcelona’s league duel against Sevilla on Sunday evening on television.
From the football coach’s point of view, the Eintracht pros have a deserved break this Monday before Glasner and his coaching staff present FC Barcelona to the team with video clips on Tuesday. The preparations for the two exceptional duels, which club president Peter Fischer classified shortly after the draw as “the biggest games since the 1960 final against Real Madrid” then begin on the training ground. More meaning is not possible.
For Axel Hellmann, the encounter with Barcelona is “the best conceivable pairing that we could get” – the spokesman said after the sobering outcome of the game against Fürth. He could not remember having experienced such a media effect before. Hellmann spoke of an “enormous breadth and effect”.
He didn’t want to linger too long on the national setback on the 28th matchday against the probable Bundesliga relegated team from Middle Franconia, even if Eintracht didn’t consistently continue on their course towards Europe as a result of the result. “From now on there is only one direction: beat Barcelona – in a full house and with a full chapel,” was Hellmann’s collective appeal. Glasner and his captain Sebastian Rode are sure that the games against Fürth and Barcelona in different weight classes will hardly have anything in common. “I think today is a completely different game than on Thursday because Fürth is completely different on the pitch than Barcelona,” said Rode. And his coach, on the other hand, thinks “that we won’t have 70 percent possession of the ball there”.
“We played football too slowly”
Immediately after the zero number against Fürth, who played with great compactness, Glasner was not yet looking forward to the “big spectacle” against Barcelona. Because his players had shown him, as he had done several times this season, that they weren’t able to take a goal-oriented approach against “defensive and well-organised opponents”. “We played football too slowly, were too static and didn’t have enough intensity in our actions,” criticized sporting director Markus Krösche. “Fürth defended the box well – we had no solutions for that.”
With regard to the lack of creativity in the Eintracht game, Glasner complained that the Frankfurters were “too imprecise overall in the last 16 to 20 meters and not optimal in the occupation of the penalty area”. “We’ve had this issue for a long time,” he admitted and went into detail: “Filip Kostic had a chip ball on the back post in the second half – and nobody was there.”
“0-0 against Fürth is not enough”
Jesper Lindström, Ansgar Knauff and Gonçalo Paciência could have provided more variety in a positive sense if they had used their chances to score. However, the good Fürth goalkeeper Andreas Linde successfully stood in their way. The Hessians do not currently have a reliable executor in their ranks like their striker André Silva, who has moved to Leipzig.
The hard-working Colombian Rafael Borré goes a long way. In the opponent’s penalty area, however, he is rarely found in the fight for anything that can be counted. Nevertheless, Borré will probably be on the ball again in the duel with Barcelona, because Gonçalo Paciência is too slow for a performance based on counterattacks and fast switching.
“The 0-0 draw against Fürth is not enough, that’s clear. Also for the demands that we have,” admitted Kevin Trapp. After two years of the pandemic, the goalkeeper was pleased that the stadium was almost full with 50,500 spectators. “There was also a special atmosphere during the warm-up. That’s hugely important for all of us – especially in view of Barcelona when the hut is full again for this highlight game. We have big plans,” announced the national goalkeeper. “For that we need people from the ranks.”
