EFrankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp has this year’s European Championship as his goal. “I was injured for three months and wanted to be fit again for the Bundesliga return round,” the 29-year-old national keeper said after Friday night’s 5-0 bundesliga match against FC Augsburg. “I now want to go to the European Championship.”
He took part in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. “It’s a nice thing to watch a tournament like this,” said Trapp, who has scored in three international matches so far. “Now I want to perform and help my team win.” This would also help to possibly be nominated for the European Championship.
Frankfurt is back with full force after a glaring drop in performance at the end of the Bundesliga round. With the 5-0 the Hessen managed the third victory in the fourth league game. A few days earlier, they had also made it to the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal. “The direction is right, 100 percent,” Eintracht head coach Adi Hütter said of the top start to the new football year.
After the 5-1 on 2 November 2019 against FC Bayern, the Hessen, who had become powerless due to a mammoth program in three competitions, had previously slipped to 13th place and three points to the relegation place. After all, last year, Eintracht played 56 games until the winter break. There was a great fear that the Frankfurters would not recover from this during the rather short break of play until the return round start. The travel-related training camp in the United States, in this crisis situation, did not seem to be the right remedy for many at first.
Despite all the inconveniences, the Europa League participant again showed himself to be strong from the start of the return round. A 2-1 win at 1899 Hoffenheim was followed by victories against top club RB Leipzig in the league (2:0) and in the cup (3:1) as well as a 1-1 at Fortuna Düsseldorf – and now the high success against Augsburg. “One thing I find exciting is the effort we have used to compensate for the seven games that have not been won before the winter break,” said Axel Hellmann, member of the Eintracht board. A basis for the returned success is the conversion from the three-man to the four-man chain, which has created more stability on the defensive.
The performance against Augsburg had started tough, but ended well thanks to strong parades by Nationalkeeper Trapp. “It was a perfect Friday night,” said Timothy Chandler, who had paved the way for victory with his two goals (37th/48th minute) and with four goals is now the second best return scorer in the Bundesliga after Dortmund’s goalkeeper Erling Haaland (7). “I’m used to scoring just two goals all season,” the 29-year-old defensive player said. “I’m just happy.” The other goals were scored by André Silva (56th) and Filip Kostic (89th/90th).
Augsburg’s coach Martin Schmidt said afterwards: “In the meantime, I’ve caught up.” After a passable first half, he saw “our worst half this year” after the break. In terms of second balls, two-fight leadership and in the end also mentality, one had the cutting edge bought off. “Our goalkeeper saved us from a 0:8, 0:9,” Admitted Schmidt admitted bluntly. “It was a disaster.”