Duty accomplished, on to the next game! The many players of Eintracht Frankfurt have won an effortless stage in the Europa League and have already warmed up for the dangerous start in the DFB Cup. Three days before the duel with the third division team Waldhof Mannheim, the Hessians won FC Vaduz 5:0 (3:0) – their entry into the play-offs is thus practically certain.
In the first leg of the 3rd qualifying round, Filip Kostic (11th/27th) and Dominik Kohr (40th) already made everything clear in the first round for the semi-finalists of the previous season, Goncalo Paciencia (53rd) and Mijat Gacinovic (63rd) increased after the side change. The probably insignificant second leg against the Liechtenstein no-name troupe, who will play in the 2nd Swiss league, will take place in Frankfurt in a week’s time. After that the play-offs (22/29 August) would be the last hurdle before the minimum target group phase.
If the Frankfurters reach these goals and also survive the first round of the cup without any damage, they would have to play a proud 31 competitive games by the end of the year alone. “This is a tight programme and almost an entire season,” said national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp ahead of the match. The 29-year-old, who had returned to harmony on Wednesday, was not on the squad one day later as expected.
Furthermore, in front of 5908 spectators in the Rheinpark Stadium, the Croatian runner-up world champion Ante Rebic was sitting on the bench until the 71st minute, but the favourite still had a lot of aggressiveness. After only 43 seconds, Martin Hinteregger, the darling of the crowd, had the first chance, only the week before he was firmly committed.
“We want to play for victory right from the start, that’s a must,” Frankfurt coach Adi Hütter said before the kick-off. After the guided tour by Kostic, whose long-range shot Vaduz keeper Benjamin Büchel misjudged, Frankfurt controlled the action as effortlessly as possible.
In view of the tasks ahead, the guests could have downshifted several gears in the second run. The SGE, which had won so many sympathies through its furious ride into the Europa League semi-final, continued to work with great motivation and concentration. Rebic hit the bar just before the end.
For Eintracht, the match will continue on Sunday with the Mannheimers in the best position, the game is quite dangerous to stumble. However, the Bundesliga team will not underestimate the outsider at all – last year Frankfurt had finally failed as defending champion in the first round against the regional league team SSV Ulm.
