Dhe interim report reads mediocre. There aren’t too many results to be proud of after almost half a year of working together. At least in the Europa League, coach Oliver Glasner and the Eintracht players are on course. At the end of the preliminary round, the last international trip of an eventful football year now takes her to Istanbul.
There is a lot at stake against Fenerbahçe this Thursday (6.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Europa League and on RTL +). Not just sporty. The Frankfurters currently lead Group D. After the first five games, they have achieved eleven points – not a particularly outstanding result, but a cut that has so far been enough to relegate the competition to the rear. Olympiacos are second with nine points, Istanbul third (5 points) ahead of the knocked-down team from Royal Antwerp (2).
A draw on the Bosporus would be enough for the Hessians to claim first place. A goal worth striving for, which would also have positive economic consequences, because that would secure the direct entry into the round of 16, which UEFA is rewarding with 1.1 million euros; Eintracht would be spared the detour via an additional knockout duel next February.
Money for transfers?
A victory in Istanbul would also have the pleasant side effect that it would flush 630,000 euros into the coffers – which would be a very welcome Christmas present in view of the budget that is constantly burdened by the corona pandemic. Especially since it is agreed that the executives of the club will deal intensively with the situation on the transfer market in the days around New Year’s Eve in order to sound out whether improvements to the squad, which are generally believed to be on the offensive as well as on the right wing, are necessary fit into the budget.
Glasner still has to see that he can cope with the available (personnel) resources and conceals the weak impression that the Frankfurters made at the Bundesliga match in Hoffenheim (2: 3) at the weekend. Constance is a foreign word for them, the course of the season is a single up and down. Whenever it looked like a bigger step forward (in the table) was possible, like recently after the 2-1 win over Union Berlin , usually followed a faulty appearance, through which the chance was destroyed in the beginning.
Read F + 30 days for free now and get access to all articles on FAZ.NET.
READ F + NOW
The memories of the first encounter with Fenerbahçe are also mixed. All in all, Eintracht earned a draw at 1-1 in mid-September, fought their way back through Mesut Özil’s goal after being behind, and equalized through Sam Lammers; however, they were lucky that in stoppage time the referee interpreted a controversial scene in their favor. After a penalty caused by Kevin Trapp, Mergim Berisha scored the supposed winner for the Turks, but the video assistant intervened because the German U-21 international sprinted into the penalty area too early.
The current third place in the Süper Lig in the European Cup is not a force in its own arena; a draw (2: 2 against Antwerp) and a defeat (0: 3 against Piraeus) do not paint the image of an opponent from whom the Frankfurters have to hide if they exhaust their potential. To date, Fenerbahçe have never won at home against German teams in European competitions. Most recently they lost 3-0 against Gladbach in the 2012/2013 campaign.
Eintracht cannot count on the support of their supporters in the Sükrü Saracoglu Stadium. Due to “legal requirements” of the regulatory authorities, as it was officially called, no tickets were issued to Frankfurt fans.