And now Naples! Eintracht Frankfurt's dream trip will continue in 2023. An exciting goal awaits the fans, and a sportingly difficult test for the club.
Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) - The fans of Eintracht Frankfurt are waiting for the next dream trip in the Champions League, the Europa League winner himself is facing a very complicated sporting task: the draw for the round of 16 in the premier class has the Hessen on Introduced to SSC Napoli in Nyon on Monday. The leaders of the Italian Serie A had prevailed in Group A, leaving last year's finalists Liverpool FC and Ajax Amsterdam behind.
"They're tough opponents, but ultimately it was to be expected that we'd face tough opponents. We'll do everything we can to get through to the next round," said sporting director Markus Krösche. Debutant Frankfurt qualified directly for the knockout phase, which will be played in spring 2023, when they first took part. Frankfurt will initially play at home and in the second leg at Diego Maradona's former club, who are currently clearly leading the Serie A table.
"I don't think Naples is so super happy to get us," added Krösche confidently. "So we will see that we can put our football on the pitch and get to the next round." As with FC Barcelona in the Europa League a good six months ago and the attractive premier class group, the Hessians seem to have gotten one of the best lots this time.
There are a total of eight game dates for the round of 16. The first legs will take place on February 14, 15, 21 and 22. The second legs will be played on March 7th, 8th, 14th and 15th. In addition to Frankfurt, the other German representatives also drew tricky lots. Bayern play against Paris Saint-Germain's superstar squad led by Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi. RB Leipzig is up against top favorite Manchester City for captain Ilkay Gündogan. And Borussia Dortmund would also have preferred a different lot than Chelsea with national player Kai Havertz.
Six months after the Europa League triumph in Seville, Frankfurt had also prevailed in the balanced premier class Group D. Coach Oliver Glasner's team beat Sporting Lisbon and Olympique Marseille to finish second behind Tottenham Hotspur.
Glasner and Co. were able to cope well with the fact that defending the title in the Europa League finally became a utopia in view of the round of 16 entry. The club said on Monday afternoon: "The fan department is working on a travel offer again. We ask for your patience and refrain from asking. If there is any information, we will let you know." In 2022, tens of thousands of Eintracht fans traveled to Barcelona and Seville. Not all Frankfurt supporters were recently allowed into the stadium in Lisbon, although there were still free seats there.
