Oliver Glasner did not want to gain some distance from the business. "I shook off my personal grief during five or six hours of football," said the Eintracht Frankfurt coach on Friday. On the day after the 0:3 in Napoli and the elimination from the Champions League, which had been overshadowed by violent riots of the Eintracht fans, three German clubs finally played in the Europa League with SC Freiburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Union Berlin – you can tune in. Especially since the Frankfurt did not train on Thursday because a place would have been available too late in Naples.

David Lindenfeld

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So for Glasner there was first Freiburg, then Union on TV. And of course it was a great coincidence that the evening program in front of the TV had a purpose that went beyond overcoming frustration: Glasner, who competes with his team on Sunday at Union Berlin at the Alte Försterei (15.30 clock in the F.A.Z. live ticker for the Bundesliga and DAZN), got an example of how to beat the next opponent.

Union Saint-Gilloise, second in the Belgian league with a five-point deficit to Genk, has shown what Eintracht should also succeed in, if it is up to their coach: 3-0 ended the second leg – and thus also the European high flight of the Berliners, so that the starting position before the Bundesliga game of the two teams seems like a copy of the respective situation of the other. Across all competitions, neither Frankfurt nor Berlin have won for five games. In addition, there is now the end of the European Cup. And an upcoming game that is of great importance. Berlin is currently in fourth place with a five-point advantage over Frankfurt, who have three pursuers breathing down their necks with Mainz (four points behind), Wolfsburg (five) and Leverkusen (six).

Glasner knows how to beat Union

Glasner does not want to look at the table. "It's important that we get our football on the pitch, create scoring chances, defend consistently and are wide awake in standard situations," says the coach: "If we do that, the probability is higher than if we look at the table day and night." Glasner knows how to beat Union. In the first leg, Eintracht won 2-0. At that time, she had left the ball and thus the game design to Union more often than in other games. Saint-Gilloise played similarly.

Whether that could be an option again for Sunday, Glasner did not want to confirm. "We can't say: 'We play like Saint-Gilloise'. We are sticking to our style," he said, who is again considering the four-man defensive chain as an option that has been "gained". One more attacking player to "get more pressure on the ball" – that worked well over long stretches against Napoli. "We just had the topic against a team in 4-3-3 with wide wings how we can get access quickly and well," explains Glasner. Attacking higher is always a bit easier in the 4-2-3-1 formation.