Martin Spohrer, the athletics coach of the Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt, has asked for an apology after a verbal derailment on the Internet against Hoffenheim professional Christoph Baumgartner. "I would like to apologise for my tweet after the penalty situation in yesterday's game in Hoffenheim! Something like this must not happen to me under any circumstances and was unprofessional," Spohrer wrote on Twitter on Monday night.
At Eintracht, nerves are on edge
Marc Heinrich
Sports editor.
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After Austrian international Baumgartner scored a penalty in TSG's 3-1 win over Frankfurt, Spohrer insulted the player via Twitter on Saturday. He later deleted the tweet. "It happened in the excitement about what I consider to be a provoked penalty, which, however, does not justify either the tweet or the choice of words, for which I apologize once again very clearly, especially to Christoph Baumgartner," Spohrer wrote. Coach Oliver Glasner also caused a stir after the game when he answered a journalist's question extremely vehemently.
Whether the club will sanction the athletics coach was initially open. Baumgartner is considered a possible Eintracht addition for the coming season.
Frankfurt are in ninth place in the table after the 31st Bundesliga matchday, but have another chance to qualify for international business by reaching the final of the DFB Cup on 3 June in Berlin. Hoffenheim are currently in 14th place and also have a four-point lead over the relegation zone thanks to the victory over Eintracht.