Is this an end of an era for Eintracht Frankfurt?
After losing the DFB Pokal final to RB Leipzig, many are wondering whether this is this an end of an era for Frankfurt or simply a transition to the next chapter of a fantastic period for the club?
“We will do everything to come back here next year and win the trophy,” Eintracht Frankfurt sporting director Markus Krösche said on Saturday, just moments after his club had lost the DFB Pokal final to RB Leipzig. It was a statement of defiance, muttered in the quietest way, as the microphones struggled to pick up the words said by Krösche as if by saying them in silence, the defeat against Leipzig had never happened.
There was certainly a sense that Frankfurt were able to beat Leipzig. For 70 minutes, the Eagles matched Leipzig’s intensity and were perhaps even the better team. But then came one moment when a shot by Christopher Nkunku was deflected twice to beat Kevin Trapp and give Leipzig the lead.
From that moment onwards, Frankfurt were deflated. There was no sense of resistance, no ability to turn this game around. And with five minutes to go Dominik Szoboszlai doubled the lead for Leipzig, ensuring Frankfurt’s defeat. “We had 97 competitive games in the last two years,” Frankfurt head coach Oliver Glasner said after the game. “It was a successful period that cost a lot of energy.”
In other words, there was nothing left in the tank for Frankfurt to turn things around. And then, with a whimper, another successful chapter for Frankfurt ended. In fact, one has to ask if this is the end of an era for a club that has won the DFB Pokal in 2018 and the Europa League in 2022. Or will sporting director Krösche find a way to see the club go once again through a process of renewal that can extend the current successful era of the club?
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