Frankfurt’s frailties on show as Gers’ Europa
MAINZ 2 Ingvartsen (10, 49) EINTRACHT FRANKFURT 2 Tula (26), Borre (35)
A full-strength Eintracht Frankfurt were held to a draw in their local derby four days before the Europa League Final as Mainz showed Rangers their Seville opponents can be vulnerable in defence.
But manager Oliver Glasner revealed Bundesliga rookie of the year, Jesper Lindstrom, is winning his fitness fight for the Final, after being out with a thigh injury since the semi-final, first leg against West Ham.
Eintracht conceded two weak goals, Mainz hit the woodwork and had a VAR goal disallowed in the RheineMain derby at a packed MEWA Arena, finding plenty of joy down both wings, which should be music to the ears of the tournament’s top scorer, James Tavernier, and Ryan Kent.
However, Eintracht – who finished in 11th place, 16 points behind Rangers’ semi-final victims, RB Leipzig – showed signs of attacking flair with goals from Brazilian defender Tuta and Colombian striker, Rafael Borre.
There was also a suspicion they were playing within themselves before this week’s Spanish showdown.
Glasner insisted Wednesday’s Final was just another game, saying: “We will train normally on Sunday. I don’t want to make the game bigger than usual. It’s a football game like the other 48 we have played this season.
“The key is that we show our strengths on the pitch. We now have a few days of regeneration, then it’s final training.
“Both teams will be physically and mentally fit. Rangers are very physical, very well-organised, very fast and they are very good at getting behind the defence.
“They will be ready but so will we. We have a huge amount of respect for Rangers.”
About yesterday’s game he said: “It
was a successful dress rehearsal. If you can’t flip the switch, you can easily lose 3-0.
“I liked that the boys fought back. It’s a character trait that sets them apart this season.
“For Jesper, it looks pretty good. He trained individually today, and should take part in parts of training tomorrow.
“It would be important for him to have two or three days of training so he’s ready for the intensity. You can’t just get off the treatment table.”
Glasner played the line-up that defeated West Ham at home, with the exception of Mali defender, Almamy Toure, who replaced injured Austrian international, Martin Hinteregger.
Local rivals Mainz went at Eintracht from kick-off and got their reward in the 10th minute when they opened the scoring. Eintracht’s Serbian midfielder, Filip Kostic, threw the ball straight to the Mainz attack and Marcus Ingvartsen crashed a rebound from his own shot high into keeper Kevin Trapp’s net.
Eintracht were making mistake after mistake in defence and midfield, and Glasner was not slow in telling his players what he thought of their performance from the dug-out.
It had the desired impact when the visitors scored with their first attack in the 26th minute when a Kostic free-kick was turned in by Tuta at the second attempt after Borre’s initial header was saved.
And they showed exactly what they could do when they took the lead 10 minutes before half-time, when they sliced the Mainz defence apart as Ansgar Knauff spotted the run of Borre, who calmly slotted home.
But Eintracht were undone again four minutes into the second half with a simple goal. Anton Stach had far too much time on the wing and Ingvartsen got in front of a static defence to score his second of the game.
EINTRACHT FRANKFURT:
(3-4-2-1) Trapp; Tuta (Ilsankar 59), Ndicka (Lenz 69), Toure (Hasebe 59); Knauff, Rode (Jakic 46), Sow, Kostic; Hauge (Hrustic 59), Kamada; Borre. Substitutes not used – Grahl, Ache, Chandler, Pacienca.