In Sevilla, the European Eintracht was on show once again. Compact, dangerous, self-confident – but in the end it was only 2:1 in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 at Real Betis. After the game, there was some disagreement about how to classify the result.
“If someone had told us that before the game …”, said keeper and captain Kevin Trapp on the “RTL” microphone after the game, suggesting that this SGE victory over Real Betis could definitely be seen as a surprise.
The Beticos have long since emerged from the shadow of the great Sevilla FC, in fifth place in the league and still in all three competitions. In short: Sevilla has known two strong clubs for quite some time. But the price is high, for the southern Spaniards the home match against the SGE was already the 17th game in this calendar year. The Eagles managed just nine in the same period!
Unnecessary tension for the second leg
“You could see that they lacked a bit of freshness, that’s why we varied a lot,” said Djibril Sow. Sometimes the Hessians started up front, sometimes they pressed in midfield, sometimes they dropped back into their own half. The result was a multitude of chances, but in the end only two were converted into goals. “We have to score three or four goals. Sevilla are better off with the 2:1 than we are,” Sow was annoyed after the game. Especially against the background of the abolition of the away goals rule this season, this creates tension before the second leg next Thursday (9 p.m.), which is actually no longer necessary.
“Fantastic performance, top performance “
Coach Oliver Glasner didn’t want to know anything about that after the second convincing performance within a few days (4:1 at Hertha BSC). A “top performance”, a “fantastic performance” by his team was what the coach witnessed. “With the 1:0 we got the security. Then we were always on it, were annoying and defended with great will,” said Glasner.
However, the 47-year-old also knows the pitfalls of the knockout round and knows: “Actually, we’re only going into half-time now. It’s important to stay humble.” Glasner will not only have had the second leg in mind, but also the next task in the Bundesliga. Because on Sunday (5.30 pm), the Hessians will meet their neighbours in the table from Bochum.
There, the positive trend should be continued so that the return match against Real Betis can also be approached with a broad chest – and so that the Europa-Eintracht still has the chance to continue being the Europa-Eintracht for the coming 2022/23 season.
