Martin Hinteregger was the focal point at the back as well as the front in Eintracht’s 2-1 win in Munich. He made up for his mistake before the 0:1 by scoring the equaliser – and even took something positive from his blunder: “In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t an unimportant mistake.
Hinteregger has long known how to annoy Manuel Neuer. He scored against Neuer for the first time in June 2018: after a corner from David Alaba in the international match between Austria and Germany (2:1), he managed a brilliant volley from an acute angle. What works in the national kit also works with the Eintracht eagle on his chest. Kostic’s corner, “Hinti”‘s header – that was already the case two years ago, when Eintracht beat the record champions 5:1 at the Waldstadion and Hinteregger headed in for the 4:1 lead. Six months later, in May 2020, he was even on hand twice to net against Neuer after Sebastian Rode’s corner kicks. In that game, however, the Hessians went down 2:5, with Hinteregger even scoring an own goal.
Once again, the 29-year-old was in the spotlight both at the back and in front. In the 29th minute, he incomprehensibly dribbled out of the defensive chain and into midfield, where he promptly made a mistake under pressure from the opposition. Bayern took advantage of the gap in Hinteregger’s back to take a deserved lead. “Of course, the mistake wasn’t that great, but it was still a wake-up call for us. As soon as it was 1:0, we were there and played more courageously,” Hinteregger told “DAZN” and even said: “In retrospect, it was perhaps not an unimportant mistake. The decisive thing was to make it 1-1 directly on the counterattack. “
Nagelsmann: “A classic Kostic goal “
First, however, the Frankfurt backline was lucky that the outstanding goalkeeper Kevin Trapp rushed out of his goal two minutes later and prevented the 0:2 by Leroy Sané (31.). In this scene, the home side could have already taken the lead. Shortly afterwards, however, Hinteregger was on hand to head a corner kick into the net, which had been taken by Kristijan Jakic and perfectly executed by Kostic. It was Kostic who scored in the 83rd minute with a precise low shot from a half-left position to make it 2-1. “A classic Kostic goal, which he scores all the time,” commented Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann dryly. Hinteregger thinks Kostic is “worth his weight in gold” for precisely such switching moments and praises: “He did that very well. “
Hinteregger: “It would be extremely important to start a small series again.
The unexpected victory at Bayern completely changed the mood in Frankfurt within four days. First there was the first win under new coach Oliver Glasner in the Europa League match in Antwerp (1:0) on Thursday, and now the sensation in Munich. This should give the team a lot of momentum to win the next game at home against Hertha BSC after the international break. Hinteregger is also counting on this: “This was a very important victory for all of us. We’ve been chasing this win for a very long time, we’ve had many opportunities to win games. I hope we take the momentum with us after the international break. It would be extremely important to start a little series again. “
