Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League: “Aha moment” as proof of maturity

Just ten minutes before halftime, Eintracht Frankfurt was able to demonstrate their steep learning curve. "There are moments that have a huge impact on the game," said coach Dino Toppmöller after his team's 5-1 win against Galatasaray Istanbul to kick off their Champions League campaign.

With the equalizer, achieved in the 37th minute as an own goal thanks to a previous diligence star for new signing Ritsu Doan, the players of the Hessian Bundesliga football club, according to their coach, "realized that something is happening, we are there, that was an aha moment that did us a lot of good."

The deficit after eight minutes had initially revealed how inexperienced this Eintracht Frankfurt still is at the highest European level. Aside from Ansgar Knauff (six games each for Dortmund and Frankfurt), no other Eintracht player had previously tasted the Champions League.

A loss of the ball in midfield was enough for “Gala” to make it 1-0, as the recently dropped DFB professional Leroy Sané immediately picked up speed and served Yunus Akgün, who carefully shot into the corner past the slipping Nnamdi Collins.

Also significant was the scene after 23 minutes when Ilkay Gündogan – the second former German international to move to the Bosporus in the summer – played a free kick flat into the penalty area, Eintracht was careless and was lucky that the following shot by Baris Yilmaz went well over the goal.

After another good chance for the Turkish visitors, Toppmöller's team, who was on the sidelines for the first time as head coach in the Champions League just in time for Eintracht's 100th match, suddenly had more control. Previously, the farewell to long-time goalkeeper Kevin Trapp before kickoff and the subsequent choreography in black and white had been the only exclamation points for Frankfurt.

The onslaught of Turkish visiting fans that the hosts had feared beforehand failed to materialize. Outside of the away section, which seats just over 3,000, there were only a few yellow and red splashes of the traditional Istanbul club in the arena in the Stadtwald.

SGE board member Philipp Reschke later spoke of "according to our estimates, a maximum of 1,000 gala fans." They, too, saw a home team that seemed to have matured in rapid succession after the 1-1 draw.

First, in stoppage time of the first half, the in-form Can Uzun scored a "dream goal" (as Toppmöller described it) to make it 2-1, with the assist coming from Jonny Burkardt, who had been unlucky in recent weeks. Then, seconds before halftime, the new Frankfurt player ended his own goalless run with a header from a free-kick cross.

After the restart, Frankfurt kept their foot on the accelerator, Burkardt again scored a brace (albeit with a decisive deflection from an Istanbul player) (66th minute), and Knauff put the finishing touches (75th minute).

By the time Frankfurt scored their fifth goal, Sané and the disappointing Gündogan had already been substituted. Like the rest of their team, they had to recognize that the fast-learning Eintracht Frankfurt were playing more aggressively. The winners were ahead in almost all statistics, including possession (38:62), shots on goal (11:14), and completed passes (74:85 percent). The latter figure, in particular, is actually too low for one of Europe's 36 best clubs – but SGE also earned the result thanks to more duels won (57:42 percent).

It was precisely the necessary competitive intensity in the duel against an ambitious, yet rather weaker, opponent considering the remaining schedule that made the difference. "We didn't let ourselves be deterred," summarized sporting director Markus Krösche.

Thanks to their explosive start, Eintracht Frankfurt are currently in first place in the league table; but no one in Frankfurt rightly considers this anything more than a positive moment. A performance like this does give hope for the rest of Frankfurt's festive season – even though their rivals are becoming more experienced and well-known. The first away challenge is Atlético Madrid on September 30, before English champions Liverpool, featuring Florian Wirtz and former SGE striker Hugo Ekitiké, travel to the Hessian metropolis on October 22.