Dhe frustration was great. “Completely unnecessary,” said Markus Krösche in the miniature mixed zone of the Brussels stadium in the Anderlecht district. Eintracht had already taken a 2-0 lead in the knockout game of the second round of the Conference League at Royale Union St. Gilloise. Everything looked like a safe success after the two goals from Fares Chaibi (3rd minute) and Sasa Kalajdzic (10th).
But because football games last longer than ten minutes and Eintracht once again failed to maintain their level of performance from start to finish, coach Dino Toppmöller's team had to settle for a 2-2 draw. The sticking point was Ellyes Skhiri's faux pas, because after his major mistake, Union managed the important connecting goal through Mathias Rasmussen (31st).
Later the equalizer was even scored (68'). Eintracht sports director Krösche rightly found it “extremely annoying” and complained again and again that “we make simple mistakes too often. The first half was pretty good, but we have to do it over 90 minutes.”
This 2-2 draw promises a lot of stress and excitement for the second leg next Thursday in the sold-out Frankfurt Arena. The way the fast Belgians presented themselves in front of their home crowd in the second half gives them a chance to come to Germany. After the break, Eintracht appeared in a weak state in the atmospheric Lotto Park.
Big cheers at the beginning
Unlike in the first season, the team led by captain Kevin Trapp wanted to achieve almost nothing. “We have to draw the right conclusions from this,” demanded Krösche. Sebastian Rode, who was substituted later, was just as disappointed as the manager. “We have to look after ourselves,” said the experienced Frankfurt midfielder. Coach Toppmöller spoke about Frankfurt's good initial phase as a “top game”, but did not ignore the realities. “We have to play better in the second half. When we face setbacks, we have to be more stable and mature.”
With a double lead for a double blow: For Eintracht, the European Cup task, which was previously classified as difficult, started like on the drawing board. After just three minutes, Toppmöller's team took the lead. The starting point for Chaibi's opening goal was winger Niels Nkounkou, who had broken through to the left and found a grateful receiver with his pass.
The jubilation in the Frankfurt camp about the early lead was great – and it got even bigger. Because in the tenth minute it was 2-0. This time it was Kalajdzic, who was deployed as a striker alongside Omar Marmoush, who benefited from a fantastic counterattack. The way Eintracht combined through the ranks of the Belgians was extremely worth seeing.
Marmoush had served Chaibi on the right, and when the Algerian cleverly played into the back of the Royale defense, the Austrian Kalajdzic had an easy time of it. Toppmöller's hope that his team would immediately show more activity and aggressiveness after their recent disillusioning performances in the Bundesliga was fulfilled at this point.
The Frankfurt team controlled the ball and opponents in the Lotto Park, which was only averagely attended by 16,000 spectators. For a long time, goalkeeper Trapp had nothing to do at all in the stadium of the Belgian record champions RSC Anderlecht. It wasn't until the 23rd minute that Union got in front of the goal, but missed after a header from Gustaf Nilsson.
In direct response, it was Chaibi who courageously took measures, but found his match in keeper Heinz Lindner (24th). Lindner would have been powerless when Kalajdzic shot unchallenged from eleven meters, but missed the Belgian goal by meters. It was a great chance to make it 3-0.
Fans arrested
The fact that Royale Union scored completely unexpectedly was due to Skhiri's scattershot nature. The Tunisian carelessly misused the ball in his own penalty area. Rasmussen didn't miss the unexpected gift and reduced the score to 2-1 (31'). Marmoush had a promising header chance shortly before half-time, but Lindner was on target (41').
At the beginning of the second half, Toppmöller made his first personnel change. Ansgar Knauff came into the game for the weak Tuta, in which the Frankfurt fan block was quieter than usual at away games. This was mainly due to the absence of the ultras. Before the game, the Brussels police temporarily arrested around 130 Frankfurt fans from the active scene.
According to a police spokesman, this was done to protect public order. This is reported by the Belgian portal VRT News. Accordingly, the supporters had parked their cars in the Dilbeek district in order to walk towards the stadium from there. Based on the license plates, the fans were assigned to “the hard core of Eintracht Frankfurt,” said Dilbeek's mayor Willy Segers. After the game, those arrested were allowed to return to Frankfurt.
Those fans who supported Eintracht and were live in the stadium experienced a bitter second half. Now the Belgians were clearly the better team, and Nilsson's great effort to equalize (68') was well deserved. Union had to make do with ten men from the 78th minute onwards because Charles Vanhoutte was shown a yellow-red card for a handball.
Changes made by Toppmöller had no effect until the end. Hugo Ekitiké, the most expensive signing in the club's history and who came on for Kalajdzic in the 65th minute, also didn't do anything substantial other than a header.
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