His first international goal is the highlight of a furious game by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League: Ansgar Knauff shines against FC Barcelona. The 20-year-old, who is on loan from BVB, is thriving under coach Oliver Glasner. And ensures that he has to sit down in front of the television again.
The trainer has to stay in detention, Oliver Glasner imposed it on himself. The fans of Eintracht Frankfurt are to blame – and Ansgar Knauff. 48,000 spectators were allowed to attend the quarter-final first leg of the Europa League against FC Barcelona, the first time a completely full Waldstadion since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. And above all, the Eintracht fans have delivered.
Before kick-off with a choreography in honor of the recently deceased club legend Jürgen Grabowski, throughout the game with rousing chants, deafening antiphony between the fans and the rest of the stadium. And completely ecstatic, escalating cheers after Knauff’s goal to make it 1-0.
The 20-year-old has scored his first European goal – and what a goal. Shortly after the half-time break, Clément Lenglet tried to fend off a Frankfurt corner, but directed the ball into the backcourt, the ball landed with the man who has been on loan from Borussia Dortmund since the winter break. Knauff took the measure from 18 meters and hit the ball with his instep into the right angle. Even Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen praised his opponent on RTL: “There are 20 men in front of me, then he shoots it well, a Sunday shot on Thursday – you have to congratulate that too.”
“I will never forget that”
In an interview on RTL, Knauff himself was almost overflowing with happiness: “These are the moments that you dream of as a small child. FC Barcelona, floodlights in front of such a backdrop – and then a goal like that, I will never forget that.” Praise also came from his coach: “The way he accepts and scores was great.” But there was a problem with Glasner’s other perception, the coach didn’t notice anything about the gigantic atmosphere in the stadium at the moment. “I have to admit, to my shame, that the end of my horizon is at the advertising board during the 90 minutes, I don’t really get anything from the outside, I don’t even know about the jubilation,” he said in the press conference after the game the question of whether Knauff gave him the most ecstatic moment of his Frankfurt career. Hence his promise: “I’ll watch it again on TV sometime tonight.” He pushed afterwards: “But I really enjoyed it after the game.”
For Glasner it was the first game in a full Eintracht stadium, as is well known, he had only switched to Frankfurt before the season. It is more important anyway, the fans may forgive that the coach deals with his team. He did. “Huge compliments and congratulations to the players,” he said enthusiastically and contentedly after the 1-1 draw. He praised the “great performance” and felt that even a win would have been “quite possible”. “But not a drop of bitterness, just a compliment,” is Glasner’s conclusion.
Against Barcelona instead of against Waldhof
One that explicitly applies to Knauff. Not only because of his great and important goal, but also because of the rest of his game. Instead of playing as a right winger, Glasner let him act a little further back as a right midfielder on Thursday evening, he worked backwards and won 70 percent of his duels. But he raised the alarm above all as a counterpart to Filip Kostic on the right flank. Again and again he worked his way forward, but there was a problem with the conversion of chances. But not only at Knauff.
Knauff was more annoyed than his coach that it was not enough to win due to Ferran Torres equalizing (66th). “It’s almost a bit annoying that we didn’t take the win with us.” However, he said he was “confident” that his team can “proceed a round” in the second leg at Barcelona’s Camp Nou (Thursday, April 14 at 9 p.m./RTL+ and in the ntv.de live ticker).
The demands of the German U21 international are growing. It grows with his performance. Knauff uses his chance, which he got with his loan to Frankfurt. At BVB, he tinkered temporarily through the third division places in the country, was in Mannheim and Osnabrück, at SC Verl and at Waldhof Mannheim. Was not allowed to play against his current club in the professional team at the start of the season, was only on the bench against Union Berlin and Leverkusen, and was not even in the squad against FC Bayern.
But under Glasner he plays – more and more and longer. He was on the pitch for the full season in all three Europa League games and offered no reason to replace him. He has been on the pitch in ten out of eleven possible games since moving to Eintracht. A change, an upswing, also gaining self-confidence. He scored his first goal for Frankfurt in early March in the 4-1 win over Hertha BSC, and now he’s followed suit on the international stage.
Knauff let the stadium explode and almost exploded himself after the final whistle: “It’s an indescribable feeling. I can’t really realize it. It’s just a great feeling,” he continued to cheer on RTL. Perhaps Oliver Glasner can really understand that as soon as he has watched the game again on television. And then you can also enjoy the atmosphere in the stands.