ZDF legend Béla Réthy has been following Eintracht Frankfurt since he was a child. He had planned a trip to Naples for the Champions League round of 16.
Frankfurt – Eintracht Frankfurt is about to play one of the biggest games in the club’s history.
In the coming week, the SBU will play the round of 16 second leg in the Champions League at SSC Napoli. After the 2-0 defeat in the first leg, the Bundesliga club is going into the game against the Italian leaders with a mortgage.
The absence of the Eintracht fans, who played a large part in winning the Europa League last season with their support, could be just as serious.
It was only announced on Tuesday that the Italian Ministry of the Interior would issue an order prohibiting Napoli from selling tickets to SBU fans. Safety concerns are cited as the reason.
Béla Réthy: “Bin mit Eintracht Frankfurt sozialisiert worden”
It is therefore unlikely that ZDF legend Béla Réthy will be there on March 15th. Originally, the longtime TV commentator had planned a trip to southern Italy, as he Bildpodcast “phrase mower” revealed.
“The first game in the stadium, in terms of big football, which I will see is a trip to Napoli with Eintracht,” says Réthy. Before that, he had only been there live once since he left, that was at Wehen Wiesbaden’s third division game against SV Elversberg.
The 66-year-old also reports why he had planned the away trip with Eintracht: Réthy has been a Frankfurt fan since childhood.
“I was socialized with Eintracht Frankfurt. It’s easy to become a football fan. It happens, you don’t intend it. I was there at the age of eleven or twelve with my father in the old gray concrete bowl of the Waldstadion,” the sports journalist reminisces. Réthy names ex-goalkeeper Peter Kunter and offensive players Bernd Hölzenbein and Jürgen Grabowski as his “first heroes”.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Béla Réthy estimates the chances of reaching the quarter-finals to be low
When asked, Réthy – who describes the knockout phase as a “bonus” – assesses the chances of reaching the quarter-finals as rather poor.
“Not after Kolo Muani’s red card, no. But I still go there with hope. Eintracht showed in the Europa League how many impossible tasks they can do. This is a team that has comeback qualities. And they have morals,” says Réthy, who rather expected a “folklore” trip with “wonderful food and a trip to Pompeii”.
In all likelihood, that will not happen now. Apparently, Réthy has no choice but to keep his fingers crossed for Eintracht in front of the TV. And maybe it’s still enough for the round of eight – then an away trip with “his” SGE would probably be feasible again. (masc)
