Because of Filip Kostic’s absence, Christopher Lenz, who had previously been injured for a long time, made his first appearance for Eintracht Frankfurt after more than five months – and showed a promising performance, not only because of the eye-catching assist in the 2:1 win.
He had exerted himself a little more than planned, but that was okay for Christopher Lenz. “I’m a bit knackered, but I’m fine because I’ve got a few more happy hormones in my body thanks to the win,” admitted the Eintracht Frankfurt winger after the 3-2 victory over VfB Stuttgart. The fact that things got “physically difficult” in between is in the nature of things: Lenz had previously been out of the starting eleven for five months due to a muscle injury and had only played one half in the test against Mainz 05.
Now it was 90 minutes in the Bundesliga again, because Filip Kostic, who had been playing on the left side, was absent at short notice. Incidentally, Lenz was also on the pitch for the last time from the start against Stuttgart – in the 1-1 draw in mid-September.
Lenz convinces against Silas and as a corner taker, but is not without mistakes
Coach Oliver Glasner was rewarded for the courage to take risks: Lenz largely eliminated the Stuttgart opponent Silas, won 60 percent of his duels and shone as an accurate corner taker. Ajdin Hrustic’s 2:1 would probably not have been possible without the left-footed Lenz’s millimetre-precise cross. The summer signing from Union Berlin was not without fault, however: a free-kick after an unnecessary foul shortly before the break resulted in Stuttgart’s 1-1 equaliser. “You could see the lack of match practice there,” said Glasner.
But all in all it was a promising performance after the long break. Lenz has only been back in team training for two and a half weeks.
Colleagues in bad luck – Lenz has to “grit his teeth “
The fact that Lenz was exhausted at the end was also due to the bad luck of his colleagues: Sebastian Rode, Djibril Sow, Tuta and Makoto Hasebe had to leave the pitch injured or stricken. “Then it was a case of gritting our teeth,” said Glasner, who conceded that Lenz had become much more withdrawn as the game wore on. “Now I’ll have a good rest for a day or two, then it’s back to training,” revealed Lenz, who was thoroughly impressed by the performance in Stuttgart. “We came into each half incredibly strong and would have had the chance to go 2-0 or 3-0 up. That’s something we’ve been talking about for a while, that we take the chances we have. Still, we take the positive out of it, which is to have scored three goals away from home. “
At the end, Lenz and the Frankfurt side were jubilant about their first win of the year: “The relief is certainly great, even though we knew it would come at some point. “
