Sports Weekly all-media reporter Huang Sijun
In the 27th round of last season's Bundesliga, Andrei Silva's header in the 87th minute helped 4th-placed Frankfurt beat 5th-placed Borussia Dortmund 2-1 away, and the point difference between the two widened to 7 points. Originally thought that the "Eagles" were bound to enter the restructured Champions League in history, but Dortmund actually hit the line with 7 consecutive wins, and finally achieved a super reversal, and also won the German Cup by the way. At that time, no one would have thought that less than 11 months later, when Borussia Dortmund left the European arena after playing with several non-mainstream league teams, leaving a scolding, Frankfurt, which had lost the Champions League qualification, achieved a historic meeting with Barcelona in the knockout stage!
Frankfurt vs Barcelona, this is the historic match for Frankfurt.
Not only did they meet Barca, but Eintracht Frankfurt once again proved in front of Barca that they could compete with any traditional giants in the Europa League. After eliminating Inter Milan and Benfica in 2018/19 and losing to Chelsea on penalties in the semi-finals, Frankfurt has now drawn 1-1 at home to the recently brave Barca in the first leg of the quarter-finals, and the content of the game is much better than the result.
Frankfurt's "Battle of the Century"
There is no doubt that when Barca are drawn at the competitive level, many teams may be timid. But for Frankfurt, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The Frankfurters described the quarter-final against Barca, especially the first leg at home, as the "Battle of the Century", with as many as 300,000 fans wanting to watch the game. Fortunately, the spectator limit at the German Stadium was lifted in time, and Deutsche Bank Park was flooded with 48,000 fans on this historic night, nearly full. Competition plans? Frankfurt director Hermann said: "Frankfurt attacked and cheered, Barcelona took the ball and booed! ”
The "horror" atmosphere of Deutsche Bank Park.
In the 2018/19 season, all the way to the Europa League, the notoriously fanatical and even extreme Frankfurt fans became famous. Today, Barca, which has long been accustomed to the tsunami of Camp Nou's 90,000 people, has also seen the power of this "devil's away". Although Ferran Torres gave the home team a long-range shot in the lead, Frankfurt responded in succession amid the cheers of the fans, and the unguarded Soeu's left-footed push in the center of the box in the 6th minute would deflect off the left post, wasting the perfect opportunity to open the record.
The opportunity stemmed from a quick fit on the right, through consecutive passes by Saweu, Boley and Linström. As for the left side, which is headed by Kostic, it is as powerful as ever. In the 38th minute, it was Kostic who caused Ter Stegen to save the ball in front of the goal from the left, and Borre, who immediately followed up, was tripped by Busquets to win the penalty. But referee Srgjan Yovanovic checked the video after being prompted by VAR and found that Busquets was tackling first, so he cancelled the penalty.
Knauf's dream moment
After a thrilling first half but no goal, Frankfurt finally broke the deadlock less than 3 minutes after the change of sides: Kostic's right corner was cleared by Eric Garcia's header at the back post, and Germany U21 international Knauf, who was on loan from Borussia Dortmund in the winter window, unloaded the ball with his left foot near the top of the arc of the penalty area, and then quickly took a right-foot volley to hit the world wave, and the ball hung straight in the top right corner of the goal, making the German international Ter Stegen whip long!
Knauf World Wave breaks the door instantly.
Undoubtedly, it was the most exciting and important goal since the debut of the 20-year-old Knauf, "This is a moment you have dreamed of since you were a child. Facing Barcelona, the lighted stadium in such a background, and then scoring that kind of goal, I will never forget. Even Ter Stegen, who unfortunately became a background board, was amazed, "I felt like there were 20 people in front of me, and he played well, and on Thursday he hit a 'Sunday shot' ( 'long-range world wave' in German) – you have to congratulate him." ”
Just a minute after Knauf opened the scoring, Kostic attacked again from the left, he faced Araujo's defense and resolutely broke through the center of the cross,Lynström broke away from Alva's defense at the back point and hit the goal with his left foot, but unfortunately he was deflected off the left goalpost, missing a good opportunity to quickly expand the score. At this time, more and more Frankfurt fans believe that their team can win the game.
At the age of 20, Knauf realized his childhood dream.
But Barca is Barca after all, and Xavi replaced Frenki De Jong with Dortmund veteran Osman Dembele after playing for an hour to signal a counterattack. And this substitution quickly received a miracle effect: it was Dembele who cut inside the right side of the ball to the right rib to send a straight plug, then De Jong and Felan Torres brilliantly passed the ball with 3 feet in a row, and before the Frankfurt defender could see the pass route, Ferran pushed his right foot into the far corner of the goal and pulled it 1-1.
With their fitness declining, Frankfurt had difficulty creating a threat with speed in the last half hours, and Barca also stepped up pass control to stabilize the situation. The young Brazilian centre-back Tutta also unnecessarily violated Pedri in the 78th minute and was sent off, adding to the difficulty of the second leg a week later.
The European flag of the Bundesliga
Counting the draw, Eintracht Frankfurt remained unbeaten at home in the Quarter-finals of Europe, with a total of 12 wins and 5 draws. And since losing 3-7 to Real Madrid in the 1960 Champions League final, Frankfurt have never lost to their Spanish rivals (Atletico Madrid in the second round of the Cup Winners' Cup 1975/76, A copa League third round against A Coruña in 1993/94, Celta in the 2006/07 League Cup group stage, and 1/8 final against Real Betis) in this season), with a total of 5 wins and 3 draws.
Ferran Torres helped Barcelona equalise 1-1.
Frankfurt, who has been in the middle of the Bundesliga for a long time and even served as a "lift" for a period of time, although it has not participated in many European competitions, has left many outstanding records, in addition to the 1960 Champions League runner-up, as well as the 1980 Confederation Cup champion (defeated Mönchengladbach in the final). In the Cup Winners' Cup, Frankfurt also reached the semi-finals in 1976. Since the restructuring of the UEFA Cup and the renaming of the Europa League, Frankfurt has been able to qualify from the group smoothly every time it participates, and the earliest out of the 2013/14 season can also draw 5-5 in the 1/16 finals with Porto, which fell from the Champions League group stage in two legs, only to lose due to the disadvantage of away goals.
Since returning to Europe as a German Cup winner in 2018, Eintracht Frankfurt has won 17, drawn 10 and lost 6 in the Europa League, with an unbeaten rate of 81.8%, second only to Bayern (92.1%) in the Bundesliga team in the same period. Moreover, in the absence of last season's European games, Frankfurt's European coefficient in the past four seasons has reached 57 points, second only to Bayern (108 points), Borussia Dortmund (69 points) and Leipzig RB (68.5 points) in the Bundesliga team, higher than Bayer Leverkusen (53 points), and far behind Wolfsburg (23.5 points), Mönchengladbach (21 points), Hoffenheim (19 points) and other teams, making outstanding contributions to the Bundesliga.
Tuta (No. 35), who received a red card, will miss the second round a week later.
Bruchhagen, who served as chairman of Frankfurt's board of directors for 12 and a half years, pointed out that Eintracht Frankfurt's emphasis on European games, especially the Europa League, is unparalleled in the Bundesliga, "otherwise there would be no other German team's results one after another." For Eintracht Frankfurt, the Europa League is particularly important. Sefeet (former CEO of the German Professional Football League) has also repeatedly praised Eintracht Frankfurt for approaching the tournament with the necessary rigor. The Europa League also brings a lot of money to Frankfurt, allowing clubs to invest in players. ”
Bruchhagen predicted a 2-2 match with Barca at home, and the result really ended in a draw. Frankfurt, of course, regretted that they were not able to take advantage of the home side to take advantage of the overall lead after playing a good 60 minutes of good goals, and even "a little chagrined" (Knauf), but everything was possible in the second leg. Another German international, Trapp, who is on the same page as Ter Stegen, believes frankfurt can do it, "If we don't believe we can do it, then we don't have to go there [Camp Nou]." Now whoever doesn't believe it is coming to the wrong place. ”