An outstanding goalkeeper, a fighting captain and a usually loud president: Eintracht Frankfurt’s triumphal night in Seville has many defining faces. The powerful argument of the Champions League should keep the team together.
Heroic images with a turban and heroic deeds in extra time and on penalties: The leading players Kevin Trapp and Sebastian Rode played a key role in leading Eintracht Frankfurt to triumph in the Europa League.
The Hessians will remember the 5:4 after penalties against Glasgow Rangers for a long time. The crackling and electrifying coup from Seville also gave the Hessians their first-ever participation in the Champions League. The faces at the end of Eintracht’s memorable trip to Europe:
More match winners are hardly possible. First, Trapp saved Eintracht in the 118th minute with a sensational reflex before the last-minute knockout. – then he saved a penalty from Welshman Aaron Ramsey on penalties.
“When you get through a situation like that, you feel like it’s your turn today. I had that feeling,” said Trapp, the German national soccer goalkeeper. The 31-year-old ran out of superlatives in Andalusia. “It’s the best day of my career – probably for a very long time too.” Trapp had already made excellent saves against FC Barcelona and West Ham United.
The huge gratitude of his football professionals was visible in the press conference. Glasner was just about to make his remarks when some players stormed the press room and gave Glasner a mighty beer shower.
After Ernst Happel, the 47-year-old is only the second coach from Austria to win a European Cup. “I’m partying until Saturday – and I’m going on vacation on Sunday,” said Glasner. His move from Champions League club Wolfsburg to Eintracht has definitely paid off.
In the fifth minute, the captain was suddenly bleeding profusely. “I was in my right mind the whole time, I was never gone or anything,” said Rode, who was hit in the head after a foul by John Lundstram in the fifth minute, but was able to continue playing after a treatment break of several minutes – and with a turban a sovereign performance lay down.
The 31-year-old later strolled to the interviews with a huge plaster on his head. He showed the wound via Twitter and commented: “The main thing is to get the thing!!! Everything else doesn’t matter.”
Fischer said it in Barcelona, repeated it in London and now followed it up again in Seville: He wants to drink from “that shitty cup”. He can do that now, because now his club has won the coveted trophy for the first time since 1980.
“Today is all about rejoicing, celebrating, bringing this damn trophy to Frankfurt. We want to bring this miserable bitch to the Romans,” said the official. He was “a monster-proud president”.
The Colombian not only scored the all-important 1-1, but also ensured the triumph in the decisive penalty with precision work into the top corner of the goal.
Borré has had a changeable season. Borré could not match the very high level of his predecessor André Silva, but the South American is also a different type of player. “As a guy, how Rafael leads is very important to us,” Glasner noted.
In August 2021, the Serb wanted to leave and go to Lazio Rome, now he mimed the whip in the fan curve. Around nine months later, the episode from last summer is long forgotten. Kostic played – especially in Europe – a strong season.
Head coach Glasner assumes that the winger will stay and at least fulfill his contract, which is valid until June 30, 2023.
