For a long time Sebastian Rode didn’t have any fun playing football anymore, because the substitute benches of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund or his body stood in his way. Since his return to Eintracht Frankfurt last January, the written off has blossomed again. The fact that this does not only benefit him himself became clear at the latest with the European League Coup of Hesse against Benfica Lisbon.
Sebastian Rode wanted to embrace the whole world. The great hero of the next Frankfurt prank in the Europa League after the big hopping party in front of the northwest curve began to talk about “endorphins”, happiness hormones. As if on his way to the catacombs he had pulled another bar of chocolate out of his sock and eaten it. But that was not necessary after this evening.
His goal to 2-0, which helped Eintracht to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup for the first time since 1980, was enough for him to meet the journalists with a broad grin.
After all, it was “a very important gate”, Rode stated. “I’m incredibly happy.” A better time than the 67th minute in the second leg against Benfica Lisbon could not have been chosen for his first Eintracht goal after just over five and a half years.
The defensive midfielder last scored against FV Illertissen in the first round of the DFB Cup on 4 August 2013. “He was so wanted”, Rode said afterwards laughing about his anything but massive, but precise shot from 16 meters into the right lower corner, “I could hardly believe it myself when he went in.”
Usually Rode is responsible for the dirty work in the game without the ball. As he once again did a very good job against the Portuguese, albeit with one or two peculiarities like his “Flugkopftackling” in the final phase, he was the best player in Hesse alongside the industrious Filip Kostic and the French Simon Falette.
At the beginning of the year, when Eintracht loosened it from the BVB on a loan basis, very few people would have believed that Rode would be able to do this. Scepticism about Rodes’ physical problems in recent years spread even among the supporters of the SBU. After all, the 28-year-old had visited the physiotherapists at his previous clubs or warmed the bench more often than on the pitch.
But sometimes it’s these unexpected coincidences that make football so special. In the case of Rodes, this may not have so much to do with football, but with what surrounds him next to the grass. It is obvious that in Munich and Dortmund they were not able to offer him the sheltered environment that his heart club from the heart of Europe can offer him. For Rode, who grew up near Darmstadt, Eintracht is also a piece of home, a piece of affection, a piece of love. She’s releasing endorphins in him. The fans love him.
“I experience everything incredibly intensely. I am glad that I can stand on the court again, that I am injury-free, that I have the confidence of the coach, the club and the whole region here. I think you can see that on the pitch,” he said after his best game since returning to the Main. His colleagues were pleased with him. “At the meeting before the game, I spoke with him briefly and said that he should score two goals. But I can also live well with one of them,” Danny da Costa said at the request of SOCCERSCORE and Goal with a wink.
Rode is a “super guy” who does his thing “outstanding from day one”. “I never had the feeling that Seb lacked playing practice,” da Costa said. Otherwise the one written off by many would not be so important for harmony.
