Despite the next Champions League debacle, the Eintracht Frankfurt footballers were greeted with much applause by their own fans. But after a six-minute blackout, the Hessians have to worry more than ever about progressing. The Frankfurt team lost 0-3 (0-0) against Atalanta Bergamo in their own stadium in the evening and now have just four points from five premier class games.
“We conceded three goals in a few minutes, where we don’t look good. It’s annoying that we gave up the game,” said Frankfurt’s Ansgar Knauff on DAZN. “We didn’t do well during that phase. We know we had more potential today.”
There is also a risk of a loss for striker Jonathan Burkardt, who limped off the field after just under an hour. Immediately after Burkardt’s substitution, Eintracht collapsed completely. Ademola Lookman (60th minute), Ederson (62nd) and Charles De Ketelaere (65th) made everything clear with three goals against a completely indisposed Frankfurt team.
Now I’m at FC Barcelona
With the fourth winless premier class game in a row, the desired place in the top 24 in the league format is in great danger. Opponent Bergamo already has ten points. The next home clap also results in a poor goal difference, which can still be decisive in the competition with 36 teams.
Coach Dino Toppmöller’s team showed a courageous performance for just over half an hour in front of 59,500 spectators in the sold-out European Championship Arena – after that things got worse and worse, especially after the break. In view of the difficult remaining program with games, among others, at FC Barcelona (December 8th) and against Tottenham Hotspur (January 28th), the Hessians are threatened with an early exit from the premier class.
Toppmöller: “Enjoy a bit”
As is usual in Frankfurt, this European Cup evening was also celebrated in advance. At the entrance, both fan groups presented a choreography worth seeing, which highlighted the fan friendship between the two clubs. Bergamo’s fans showed banners in German, the Eintracht supporters in Italian.
On the pitch, the hosts, who had to do without full-back Rasmus Kristensen for personal reasons, got off to a better start. “We wanted to enjoy the competition to a certain extent and didn’t always want to be driven by the results,” Toppmöller said in advance on DAZN. So far, Eintracht had won once 5:1 and lost twice 1:5.
Post saves Eintracht twice
In the first quarter of an hour it was mainly Eintracht who played. The best chance was missed by Fares Chaibi, who was waiting in the backcourt for a pass from Nnamdi Collins in the eleventh minute, but then finished too harmlessly. Captain Robin Koch (15th) could also have taken the lead from a pass from Ritsu Doan, but he headed over the goal.
However, against the initially rather hesitant and wait-and-see guests from Italy, Frankfurt gave up control little by little. That almost took revenge. In the 35th minute, ex-Leipziger Lookman and then Gianluca Scamacca hit the post. While there were plenty of goals scored in the other stadiums in the premier class, the score in Frankfurt was 0-0 at the break.
Burkardt goes, Lookman scores
That changed after the change. Initially, the focus was on striker Burkardt. First his shot was deflected just wide of the goal by Isak Hien. A few minutes later, Burkardt had to leave the field injured and limped to his own bench, supported by his supervisors. After Can Uzun’s forced break, the most important goalscorer is now in danger of being out.
Burkardt had barely left the field when Frankfurt completely lost control. A loss of the ball by Mario Götze resulted in the first goal being conceded by the extremely busy Lookman. He passed through to Ederson on a counterattack just 93 seconds later and scored the second goal. After that, Eintracht was only concerned with limiting the sporting damage.