Football: Frankfurt after the "giant leap" in the Europa League almost to the finish

Long after the final whistle, supporters of Eintracht Frankfurt celebrated their team and a series of victories unknown for several years. After four wins against Hannover 96, Latium, 1899 Hoffenheim and Fortuna Düsseldorf, the winner of the German Cup beat Thursday night 2-0 (2-0) the Cypriot representative Apollon Limbadol in the Europa League. "I'm talking about a well-deserved victory and the team implemented what we discussed," said coach Adi Hütter after another satisfying performance by his team.

With a perfect score of nine goals and 8-2 goals in three games, the qualification for the sixteenth final is almost over. Started as an outsider, Eintracht has outdistanced rivals Lazio Rom and Olympique Marseille and has proved that he is fit for the competition.

"We have made a giant step, but we are also aware that we still need points," said defender Marco Russ about the situation in which Marseille (1) and Limbadol (1) already have eight points. delay. Filip Kostic (13th minute) and Sebastien Haller (32nd) won a fierce victory against a largely innocuous crowd in front of 47,000 spectators.

"We have a very, very good starting position for the sixteenth final," commented Hütter. The lucky 2: 1 in Marseille and the furious 4: 1 against Lazio were followed by a third controlled success, which could have been much higher with a proper random operation. "If you want to look for the needle in a haystack, we have not scored enough goals," said Hütter.

The Austrian, who has followed Bayern coach Niko Kovac this summer, is now having big problems with luxury after a difficult start. He complains when victories are lower than possible. He can simply put Luka Jovic, five-time top scorer, on the bench – and trust Haller and vice-world champion Ante Rebic.

"I'm lucky to always have to keep one of those clbad winners on the bench – unless we start with all three," Hütter said. This can be as simple as you win five games in a row. The last time that Hesse had achieved such a series in March 2012, it was still at that time in the 2nd Bundesliga.