Former world champion Mario Götze did not shine in his first appearance for Eintracht Frankfurt, but made coach Oliver Glasner happy. After the goalless draw against Linzer ASK, the Hessians move into a training camp in Windischgarsten.
Pasching (dpa/lhe) - Eintracht Frankfurt's top newcomer Mario Götze satisfied the coach on his debut with the Europa League winner. "Mario did a great job two or three times, he did it very well. I'm very happy with the first few minutes," said coach Oliver Glasner about the 30-minute premiere of the former world champion in Saturday's goalless friendly against the Austrian Bundesliga soccer club Linzer ASK. The 30-year-old Götze played for around half an hour in the second half and at least hinted at his qualities.
Glasner used 24 players in the game in Pasching, including seven newcomers. That was absolutely fine," he said. "We were very well organized defensively, but we still have a lot of room to improve when playing in the attacking third."
The best scoring chance for the Hessians came from winger Filip Kostic, who only hit the woodwork in the 37th minute. Before kick-off, the coach reiterated that he hoped the Serb, who was courted by Juventus Turin, would stay. "There is a lot of speculation about him in general, but I'm staying calm. He's our player as of now and I assume that he will be for a long time," said the 47-year-old Glasner to the pay TV Broadcaster Sky and added: "From a sporting point of view, it's very clear: I want Filip to stay. I would like him to stay because we value him as a person and as a footballer."
After the test match, the Eintracht entourage continued to the training camp in Windischgarsten. 23 field players completed the first training session on Sunday. In addition to Aurélio Buta, Ansgar Knauff was also absent "due to consequences" of the test match against LASK and made an individual program, as the club announced.
