The Serbian forward instantly rediscovered his scoring touch for Eintracht Frankfurt after a miserable stay at Real Madrid on the same night the captain David Abraham bade farewellIt felt like not just a goal but a release, a way of making a longed-for expression – of frustration, of indignation, and of relief. Luka Jovic’s first goal back at Eintracht Frankfurt had taken three days and, in on-pitch terms, 10 minutes to arrive and it was worth it, unhesitatingly smashed into the Schalke net from his compatriot Filip Kostic’s delivery. Related: Antonio Conte outsmarts Andrea Pirlo in great leap forward for Inter | Nicky Bandini Related: Fifa dismisses Atlético's appeal against Kieran Trippier's 10-week suspension Related: Messi sent off as Athletic...
The Bundesliga leaders sleepwalked to defeat and now have Bayern, Mönchengladbach and Dortmund hot on their heelsThis week Julian Nagelsmann had his players sit through a presentation on the importance of good sleep to athletic performance. Some supporters might have felt RB Leipzig had already overindulged on that score during the Bundesliga’s hibernation period, with only a couple of high impact contributions from the red-hot Timo Werner rousing them from their slumbers against Union Berlin last week to take the points that maintained a healthy lead at the top of the table.Seven days later and Leipzig were still having trouble switching on for the full duration of proceedings, although the order of service was inverted this time around. Nagelsmann’s team...
• Maturing striker stars in redemptive win against Leverkusen• André Silva and Bas Dost benefit from colleague’s fine formJust deal with the first half. That may, and arguably should, have been Eintracht Frankfurt’s plan going into Friday night. The last time they’d played Leverkusen, they had begun with hope and ended humiliated. Eintracht’s trip to BayArena was set between the two legs of their Europa League semi-final with Chelsea, the third-from-last Bundesliga game of the season and with the team having the chance of a Champions League place in their own hands.It was, ultimately, the moment in which it became abundantly clear that Eintracht’s tank had pretty much run dry. After 36 minutes in Leverkusen they were 6-1 down, shell-shocked...
Adi Hütter had a tough start at Eintracht Frankfurt but his team have now found their feet as Stuttgart discovered on FridayWhen the opposition is down, keep your foot on the throat. In the infancy of his tenure but already desperate for a result, Stuttgart’s coach Markus Weinzierl would have hoped for opponents without that type of focus as his team opened the Bundesliga weekend at an anxious Mercedes-Benz Arena on Friday night. Unfortunately, he and they bumped into Eintracht Frankfurt instead.Few expected this to be much of a season for last term’s DfB Pokal winners after Niko Kovac’s departure for Bayern Munich even if his replacement, Adi Hütter, was coming off a Swiss Super League win with Young Boys...
From the 1960 final to the miracle of Istanbul, Europe’s top club competition has provided many moments to rival the drama of Real Madrid’s quarter-final against JuventusThe almost shocking conclusion to what had been a notable Juventus recovery against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu has not only divided opinion – it was a penalty all day long, one could only admire the stealth with which Medhi Benatia administered his shove in the back of Lucas Vázquez and the bravery of Michael Oliver for punishing it – but has also inspired much talk of the evening being one of the most dramatic in the history of the European Cup and Champions League. However the latter stages of the competition have frequently...