Eintracht Frankfurt is playing in the Champions for the first time this season, but the Bundesliga club is threatened with trouble: due to misconduct by their own supporters, they are playing on probation, after riots in Marseille there could now be ghost games.
Eintracht Frankfurt is threatened with a ghost game in the Champions League. Before the group game at Olympique Marseille, fans of both clubs fought violent pyrotechnic clashes at the Stade Velodrome on Tuesday evening. Flares were fired at the opposing supporters from both fan blocks and firecrackers were thrown.
Images on the Internet that are supposed to show a Eintracht fan doing the Hitler salute also caused a stir. A spokesman for the relevant prefecture said the pictures had been seen and were being checked. The European governing body UEFA has already been informed. According to "Bild", Eintracht is trying to identify the suspect.
"We are ashamed of people who come from Frankfurt, wear the eagle on their chest and show the Hitler salute. You don't belong to this club, to this city, you don't belong to us," wrote the Eintracht fan department on Facebook . According to the prefectural spokesman, four German fans were arrested because they wanted to take banned fireworks into the stadium. Four OM fans were taken away because of attempted attacks on the law enforcement officers. Overall, however, there were no major incidents.
The events could have drastic consequences for the Bundesliga club, since the SGE had been sentenced by the European Football Union to ban spectators in the next international game after the storm in the Europa League semifinals against West Ham United. The sentence had been suspended for two years, but could come into force after the incidents in Marseille.
Eintracht will play their next two Champions League games against Tottenham Hotspur. On October 4th, the SGE will first play at home, about a week later the game will take place in London.
