When was the last time the Eintracht Frankfurt footballers danced for so long and sang so loudly? First with the fans outside, then in the dressing room inside. The party music was still blaring through the ground floor of the arena at almost midnight, and if the heavy steel doors hadn’t been closed before the press conference, coach Dino Toppmöller’s words would have been difficult to hear. “You can’t buy that feeling for any money in the world,” whistled the 43-year-old, who jumped onto the pitch with his fists raised after a crazy comeback with two goals in stoppage time against Borussia Mönchengladbach (2-1). The former Eintracht player then sat on the podium wearing a bright red sweater and personally wished everyone present a Merry Christmas – he himself had already received early presents on the spot.
After goal scorer Wöber was sent off in the 88th minute, Borussia lost all stability
Of course, the son of the very cheeky Eintracht coach Klaus Toppmöller (“Bye-bye Bayern”) three decades ago knew that the analysis discussions would probably have been about the stagnation of his work in the event of a 1-0 defeat. But now the threat of seven defeats in the last eight competitive games was averted. “With sixth place in the table, you’re even more excited to get going again on January 2nd,” said Toppmöller Junior. His Gladbach counterpart Gerardo Seoane had provided a lot of help: After defender Maximilian Wöber, scorer who gave the visitors the lead (27th), received a yellow-red card (88th), the later deeply frustrated Swiss (“that hits us hard”) switched over Marvin Friedrich and Fabio Chiarodia introduced two central defenders – whereupon, strangely enough, all stability in Gladbach’s defensive center evaporated. Substitute Aurelio Buta (90+2) and the advanced Robin Koch (90+7) turned the Frankfurt Arena into a madhouse – both times another substitute, Niels Nkounkou, provided the assist.
Defender Koch, who was on national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s list, later said that during the last attack he “simply ran through”, “threw everything in” and then “didn’t see anything anymore”. When the defender opened his eyes again, the ball was behind the line. The rest was ecstasy. “There is no better stadium to score such a winning goal,” said the 27-year-old goalscorer. For what felt like an eternity, the Frankfurt supporters held up their scarves in the city forest, chanted “Eintracht vom Main” and didn’t want to go home on this cold, wet December evening.
Everything is clear: Donny van de Beek has been confirmed as Eintracht’s first winter signing. The Dutch international comes on loan from Manchester United.
(Photo: Martin Rickett/dpa)
Meanwhile, sports director Markus Krösche was internally happy. But he also felt happy when he spoke of a “turbulent year with ups and downs”. The challenges of the last six months were: “a new approach to playing football, losing many top performers, three competitions in front of us.” In the end, a “decent score” came out; the team earned this groundbreaking three points “with will and patience,” which improved the perspective because SC Freiburg was still losing at the same time. Participation in the European Cup again is the declared goal of the Hessians, who suffered second-round games against Union Saint-Gilloise in the Conference League. The smart doer Krösche found the elimination from the DFB Cup at 1. FC Saarbrücken more annoying.
The 43-year-old has a lot to do in the next few weeks. As is well known, the club wants to invest part of the 95 million euro transfer fee for striker Randal Kolo Muani, who was sold on the last day of the transfer period, in the winter after there was no time left in the summer. They are looking for two strikers rather than one because the only attacker suitable for the Bundesliga, Omar Marmoush, is playing in the Africa Cup with Egypt. Krösche confirmed the agreement with midfielder Donny van de Beek (Manchester United) on Wednesday evening – the Dutch international is initially coming on loan. Sheraldo Becker (Union Berlin) is also an issue, although the sports director has not commented on it. Basically, “the transfer strategy is not tied to a victory.” But such a redemptive act can change the mood. And professional footballers also notice this.