After the penalty shoot-out success against the Scottish club, all dams broke for the Frankfurters and their tens of thousands of fans in Seville and at home. “We have always looked for superlatives. But there’s just no word to describe it,” said goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who became Hessen’s second match winner alongside goal scorer Rafael Borre. With the score at 1:1, Trapp shone shortly before the end of extra time with a foot defense from a few meters and parried Aaron Ramsey’s attempt in the penalty thriller. All other nine shooters used their attempts.
“Today I’m going to let the pig out for once. And tommorow too. And probably the day after tomorrow too. And if it’s no longer possible, I’ll go on my well-deserved vacation,” said Glasner after the triumph. When the team presents the cup at the Römer in Frankfurt on Thursday evening, the Main metropolis is likely to experience a party of unprecedented proportions. Around 100,000 people are expected. Glasner’s anticipation was correspondingly great: “The journey doesn’t end here in Seville, it ends with our fans at the Römer.”
Eintracht Frankfurt wins the European Cup
Austrian coach Oliver Glasner triumphed in the European Cup: His team, Eintracht Frankfurt, beat Glasgow Rangers 5-4 on penalties in a thrilling cup final in Seville, bringing the cup back to Hesse for the first time in 42 years.
With this success, Eintracht wrote club history 42 years after winning the UEFA Cup and can now look forward to millions in rain. After eleventh place in the German Bundesliga last season, international business was also at stake for Frankfurt in Seville. Now the club can compete as the fifth German representative in the Champions League.
“Will not be hara-kiri”
There is already a foretaste of the premier class on August 10th at the Supercup. Then the opponent in Helsinki is either Liverpool or Real Madrid. Despite all the growth opportunities, the club wants to remain true to itself. “We don’t go shopping now because we qualified for the Champions League once,” said Eintracht President Peter Fischer. “There will be no hara-kiri at this club.”
“The journey continues in the Champions League,” said the injured Martin Hinteregger, who apparently watched the game more nervously than ever as a spectator. The Austrian international was able to celebrate at the award ceremony, as was Stefan Ilsanker, who had made two short appearances in the group phase in autumn. In the spring he was no longer there, his contract is ending.
Failure last year reason for triumph
Eintracht remained undefeated in all 13 competition games in the Europa League. Glasner saw one reason for the success in the missed Champions League qualification last year. “Do you know where the reason for today’s title lies? In last year’s failure to qualify. It’s like that so often in life. There are setbacks and then it shows whether you’re a big one,” said the 47-year-old. “The team and the club have come back and have been rewarded for their perseverance. That’s football, that’s life,” added Glasner.
The former LASK coach only took over from his compatriot Adi Hütter, who moved to Mönchengladbach, in the summer. Glasner also took his “Ko” Michael Angerschmid from VfL Wolfsburg, his second assistant Ronald Brunmayr came to Main from Blau Weiß Linz. The trio experienced difficult weeks at the beginning. At the beginning of November, sports director Markus Krösche had to defend his coach against criticism. At that time there was talk of the relegation battle. A little over six months later, these discords seem long gone.
The support of Eintracht fans only fell silent once in Seville. According to media reports, a fan fell from the stands during the final. As reported by the “Bild” newspaper, the supporter is said to have broken his tibia and fibula and had to be treated for minutes on the sidelines. According to the report, he should be taken to Frankfurt on Thursday and operated on there. Because of the incident, the Frankfurt supporters had almost completely stopped supporting their team.
Disappointed Rangers
The Rangers left the field defeated. After Joe Aribo’s lead, the Scots briefly looked like winners, but victory in the 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup was not to be followed by another trophy. “It’s never nice to lose. It hurts everyone,” said coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
It hurt the Rangers when Ryan Kent’s big chance was thwarted by Trapp. “He did everything he could. It was a great save,” said van Bronckhorst. As Scottish runners-up, Rangers now have to go through the qualifying mills to take part in the Champions League.