Champions League: Strong Naples burst Frankfurt’s quarter-final dream

Status: 11:29 p.m| Reading time: 3 minutes

Dhe burden from the first leg was too great. Eintracht Frankfurt could not make up for the 0:2 from the first leg (despite a big fight). In the second leg of the Champions League round of 16, the Hessians lost 0: 3 (0: 1) at SSC Naples. FC Bayern is the only German team to have reached the quarter-finals. In addition to Eintracht, BVB and RB Leipzig were also eliminated.

Oliver Glasner tried everything tactically to make the wondrous race to catch up in front of an empty guest block in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona – after a long back and forth between Eintracht and the Italian authorities – as tangible as possible. The coach broke up the tried-and-tested back three and instead set up a 4-2-3-1 with Christopher Lenz on left-back. “We want to create more pressure, force them to make more mistakes,” Glasner said before the game at DAZN.

The efforts of the early pressing were immediately recognizable at the beginning, but without the suspended striker Randal Kolo Muani, who saw the red card in the first leg, Eintracht did not convert it into dangerous ball wins or even good chances to score. The Italian league leaders were too sure of the ball in the build-up game, he worked through his task too seriously despite a comfortable starting position. A long-range shot by Matteo Politano (3rd) could have eliminated any remaining doubts very early in the game, but Kevin Trapp reacted attentively. The Eintracht keeper also had to save after a solo by Chwitscha Kwarazchelia (19th).

Trapp powerless with Osimhen’s header

Naples managed to keep Eintracht’s offensive efforts at a delicate level – and to create pressure phases themselves again and again. Such led to the preliminary decision shortly before the break. When the conspicuous Georgian Kwarazchelia tried again, Trapp was still the winner (43′), but he was powerless against the well-placed header of striker Victor Osimhen (45’+2).

There was no more effort, no signs that the game should still turn in favor of Eintracht. Instead, Osimhen, set free by Politano and Giovanni di Lorenzo, made it 2-0 (53 ‘). The Nigerian scored his goals 22 and 23 in his 28th competitive game this season. It was even more bitter for Eintracht: Djibril Sow hit Piotr Zielinski on the foot in his own penalty area, and the fouled man converted the penalty himself to make it 3-0 (64th). The rest of the season became a show for the Italians. “We lost again today against a fantastic team,” stated Sebastian Rode on the DAZN streaming service. “Naples were simply the better team,” added Trapp. However, both recognized their own decent performance.

Eintracht’s European miracle, which culminated in last season’s Europa League triumph and continued with progress through the group stage in the premier league, deservedly ended after two games in which Eintracht were the worse team. However, the club could already write a new chapter in the coming season, provided the result crisis with seven games in a row without a win ends promptly. Eintracht is still sixth in the Bundesliga, which entitles them to participate in the third-class Conference League qualification.

The truth is that the meeting in Naples was overshadowed by serious arguments beforehand. Hooded ultras and Eintracht hooligans, who had made their way to Naples despite a ticket ban for fans from the Hessian state capital, had attacked police officers in the city center and set vehicles on fire. Napoli hooligans were also involved in the riots, attacking with sticks and firing pyrotechnics at law enforcement officers.