There he stood like a heap of misery. Pretty pale and badly battered in the face. Rasmus Kristensen, who, in keeping with his intrepid nature, chose a short-sleeved jersey in the uncomfortable weather in Baku, seemed like the symbol the disheveled appearance of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League exit against Qarabag Agdam (2:3).
His nose is scarred and scratched, there are bloody edges under his eyes because of what happened to him Friday at Werder Bremen (3:3) had caught badly in the face. Nevertheless, the brave Dane at Eintracht Frankfurt didn’t want to duck away, but on this unsuccessful business trip to the Caspian Sea, the model professional became a symbol of the decay that accompanied the Hessians into the new year. When the first and second goals were conceded, the 28-year-old let himself be overrun as if he were wearing lead shoes in addition to the mask.
“Our faith is bigger than your budget,” the supporters of the flagship club from Azerbaijan, often dubbed “FC Barcelona of the Caucasus,” wrote on a large banner. No matter how brave the 1,000 Eintracht fans who traveled along despite UEFA’s exclusion made their voices heard, the outsider from the resource-rich country with its famous flame towers seized the last chance, while the guests were once again unable to gain access, especially in the final instance.
In addition to the 39 goals conceded in the Bundesliga, there are now 19 in the Champions League. What started well with a furious 5-1 triumph against Galatasaray Istanbul as league leaders on the first matchday ended terribly in the penultimate round of the league phase: 4 points, 33rd place out of 36 teams. The last home game against Tottenham Hotspur (Wednesday 9 p.m.) will be a sad farewell performance in the Waldstadion. This SGE special purpose community no longer has any of the admired attributes of the Europa League victory in 2022.
Walk-in customers
Internationally, Eintracht is only passing customers. And that must put everyone on alert. The winners were almost doing their lap of honor to the gala classic “Freed vom Desire” when sports director Markus Krösche came into the mixed zone, visibly disillusioned. “We’re making the same mistakes we’ve made in the last few weeks. We’ve done a few things better, but we’ve fallen into the same patterns,” said the 45-year-old in a quiet voice. “The boys lack self-confidence and security. We have to go through a deep valley.”
The last goal conceded by Bahlul Mustafazada (90+4) felt like a punch in the stomach. It also dawned on the manager responsible for putting together the squad on that gloomy evening that the causes lie deeper. The fact that the malaise in 2026, with a consistent three goals conceded in each of the four competitive games, was not solely to be blamed on the dismissed Dino Toppmöller and his coaching team.
If proof was needed, then this uneven, even partially uninspired performance in the stadium named after the ominous linesman Tofiq Bahramov provided it. As unerringly as the man pointed to the middle for the ominous Wembley goal in the 1966 World Cup final, the host seemed just as eager to bring the German guests to their knees 60 years later. The eagle bearers, on the other hand, lacked the last bit of greed and, above all, conviction on the pitch, which was not green like in the 2013 Europa League play-off game, but was once again difficult to play on. The attitude of “too much of a feel-good oasis” denounced by CEO Axel Hellmann at the turn of the year is correct. Many professionals no longer push the boundaries. Not even in the European Cup. And that’s what’s dangerous about Frankfurt’s mixed situation.
Improvement? What improvement?
It’s almost funny that interim coach Dennis Schmitt, who was constantly waving around on the sidelines, had supposedly seen improvement. The whip on the line praised a “significantly better duel rate and more intensity”, but the 32-year-old must have also seen that improvement in trace elements is not enough at this level. He and club icon Alex Meier are still responsible for the home game against TSG Hoffenheim (Saturday 3:30 p.m.), which requires “analysis and training” – and time that the interim team doesn’t have. And so it is difficult to break the faulty behavioral patterns with persuasion.
The new coach, who will most likely be called Marco Rose, will find a deeply insecure ensemble. Things aren’t right in the club on many levels right now. The fact that replacement goalkeeper Michael Zetterer and left-back Nathaniel Brown had to wait almost three hours at the airport due to formal errors by team management in the electronic visa application, as well as scatterbrained fans and media people, was significant for this business trip. “We should correct the errors as soon as possible,” pleaded Krösche. “Everyone is in demand. We have to concentrate fully on the Bundesliga.” Nothing more remains.