Eintracht Frankfurt’s hopes of another European dream trip are gone early.
Coach Dino Toppmöller’s team, which was considered a candidate for the title, missed out on a place in the round of 16 of the Conference League with a 1:2 (0:0) draw against Union Saint-Gilloise and, after a largely lifeless performance, said goodbye to the competition in the second round.
A week after the inexplicable collapse in the first leg (2:2) against the Belgian league leaders, Cameron Puertas (47th) and Dennis Eckert (80th) punished the currently weak Hessians, the connection through junior Dina Ebimbe (88th) came too late . The 2022 Europa League winner failed to build on the inspiring performances of previous years on the international stage.
“It’s very, very difficult to digest that. We wanted to take the people with us, but we didn’t manage to do that,” said national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp on RTL – and, looking at the silence after the game, added: “How much it affects them The mood is depressing, you heard that with the final whistle.”
In the first duel in Belgium, Eintracht carelessly squandered a better starting position despite a clear lead. Toppmöller therefore called for “maximum focus” and “maximum discipline” from the Frankfurt team, who had recently shown disappointing performances several times in the Bundesliga and wasted points unnecessarily.
Compared to the strong start in the first leg, Eintracht started much more cautiously. The SGE hardly allowed anything apart from a long-range shot from Koki Machida (13th), where goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was on hand, but Toppmöller’s team had great difficulties on the way forward.
Ebimbe once again gives Frankfurt hope
After Fares Chaibi’s goal was offside (16′), it took a while before the Algerian scored Frankfurt’s most dangerous finish with a free kick (45’+1). Otherwise, Omar Marmoush, who was back in the center of attack after Sasa Kalajdzic’s serious injury (torn cruciate ligament), was often in a losing position.
After the hard-fought first half, the second half started with a shock for the SGE. German coach Alexander Blessin’s team took advantage of Frankfurt’s loss of the ball and Puertas pushed the ball dry into the corner to take the lead.
The goal they conceded hurt the Hessians, but even with new signing Hugo Ekitike coming on as a substitute, Frankfurt didn’t have enough offensive play. An unplaced header from Niels Nkounkou (77th) remained the best option for a long time. On the other side, Trapp saved the SGE from falling behind before he was powerless against Eckert. Ebimbe once again provided hope – in vain.