Disenchantment instead of euphoria: ex-world champion Mesut Özil spoiled Eintracht Frankfurt’s return to the European football stage. The former national player prevented with his goal in the 1: 1 (1: 1) of the Hessen against Fenerbahce Istanbul a successful start of the Bundesliga club in the Europa League.
Özil (11th), who noisily resigned from the national team about three and a half years ago, took the lead on his return to Germany and showed a good performance. Despite their superiority, Eintracht didn’t succeed any more than the equalization by newcomer Sam Lammers (41.). In stoppage time Kevin Trapp saved a penalty from Dimitris Pelkas (90 + 1). In Group D with Royal Antwerp and Olympiacos Piraeus, the SGE has to improve.
Before the kick-off, the Frankfurt fans loudly celebrated their return to the competition, in which Eintracht had stormed furiously into the semifinals in the 2018/19 season. Coach Oliver Glasner watched the spectacle in a box in the stadium, as he had to serve a suspension from his time as coach of VfL Wolfsburg.
From there, the Austrian, who was represented by his assistant coach Michael Angerschmid, did not see a good start to his team. Fenerbahce started much more determinedly in front of 25,000 spectators and rewarded themselves early: Özil scored from a tight angle, but the well-deserved lead was only given after video evidence.
Dwindling forces at Fenerbahce
The harmony had to gather first after the shock. Against the orderly guests, with whom the former Munich Luiz Gustavo started and the ex-Schalke Max Meyer initially sat on the bench, the Frankfurt offensive hardly occurred. Only after a double chance for Djibril Sow (23rd) did an open, fast-paced game develop. The harmony increased in front of the eyes of national coach Hansi Flick until the break, took over a little more control and worked out the compensation against further dangerous guests. After strong preparatory work by Filip Kostic, Lammers scored his first goal for the SGE from close range.
It remained even after the break. Through Kostic and Daichi Kamada, Eintracht came to dangerous deals more often than the Turks.
In the final phase, Eintracht increased the pace, clearly determined the game, but missed the second goal through Kostic (75th). The hosts also increasingly benefited from the dwindling forces at Fenerbahce. But then Trapp fouled Dimitris Pelkas in the penalty area, but then saved the penalty. The German U21 European champion Mergim Berisha scored in the margin, but ran into the penalty area too early.