Sturmjuwel Dejan Joveljic has beheaded Eintracht Frankfurt to an unspectacular victory at the start of the new Europa League adventure. Thanks to the newcomer, the dominant semi-finalist of the previous season won the second qualifying round of the Estonian record champion Flora Tallinn with 2:1 (1:1). Only three and a half weeks of preparation were necessary for the Hessen in the first compulsory game of the season, but above all in the equaliser.
Lucas Torro (24) took the lead from Eintracht, who had lost their top attackers Luka Jovic and Sebastien Haller during the summer break. Seven minutes after his substitution (71st), 19-year-old Joveljic provided a reassuring starting point for the return leg in a week’s time. Mihkel Ainsalu (34) had in the meantime used a brief inattentiveness on the part of the SBU to compensate.
“That wasn’t easy to play, even such opponents have their weapons,” said sports director Fredi Bobic at Nitro: “Of course we’re happy to have come out of this important game with a victory.”
The final goal of the seventh-placed table in the Bundesliga, however, is not to move on to the next qualifying round (August 8-15), where the Hungarian runners-up FC Fehervar could be threatened, but to return to the group stage. For this, however, the Hessians would also have to survive the play-offs (22/29 August).
Should this succeed, the cash register of the SBU would be even fuller thanks to the millions transferred by Jovic and Haller. In addition, international holidays such as last season’s are likely to be tempting prospects for potential newcomers – those responsible for Frankfurt in the coming weeks absolutely want to and must present.
“But we still have more than one transfer month ahead of us,” said Bobic, commenting on the multi-layered rumours about potential new arrivals with a smile: “I’ve never heard some names before.”
Of the four new engagements so far, Eintracht coach Adi Hütter only appointed Dominik Kohr to the starting eleven on Thursday. World champion Erik Durm, like Joveljic, was only on the bench at first, Djibril Sow was missing because of his serious thigh injury.
In front of about 8000 spectators in the Le Coq Arena, Kohr promptly had his first chance after 71 seconds, and after Danny da Costa’s (9th) conclusion Filip Kostic (14th) also hit the post. Torro aimed a little more precisely later. After the equalization, the attacks were more and more often in the sand.
Although Frankfurt controlled the events also at the beginning of the second round, after about an hour, however, conditional deficits became apparent. This made it possible for the hosts to have opportunities again and again, so Erik Sorga still had the 2:2 on his foot with a shot from the crossbar (79th).
