“We want to play with more courage” | OneFootball

Dino Toppmöller was unable to attend Eintracht’s pre-match press conference due to illness, but assistant coach Jan Fießer and defender Arthur Theate gave their thoughts on the Eagles’ upcoming game.

Eintracht Frankfurt take on SSC Napoli away at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday evening (kick-off 18:45 CET). Head coach Dino Toppmöller missed the pre-match media briefing with a cold, so his assistant Jan Fießer and Arthur Theate spoke about… … team news

Jan Fießer: “Oscar Højlund and Can Uzun are both out injured. Elias Baum is back in training and will be available in the coming weeks.”

Arthur Theate: “Napoli will be without two of my compatriots in Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku on Tuesday. That’s obviously better for us given the quality they have. Kevin is one of the best players in the world, but Napoli still have other good players they can field.”

… how things stand

Jan Fießer: “We’re here to win. Our belief in ourselves is what gives us confidence. We deserve to be playing in the Champions League. We’re obviously here to learn, but we want to win as well. We want to play with more courage against the ball and cause the opposition more problems. The boys are up for it.”

Arthur Theate: “It’ll be a tough game. Napoli are Italian champions and have a lot of qualities. I’m expecting a good atmosphere. We’ll do our best and we want to play with the same intensity as we did against Dortmund. If we can do that, we can show some good football.”

… Napoli and Serie A

Jan Fießer: “Their whole team can be dangerous. Napoli are a really tough nut to crack. They’ve got an unbelievable intensity in their high press, so it’ll be a huge challenge to deal with that and to create chances.”

… Arthur Theate: “I had a fantastic year in Bologna and learned to love Italian football.”

… feeling pressure

Jan Fießer: “In terms of the league table, both teams are under pressure to get a result. We know that Napoli have a more experienced side and have played more often in this competition. There’s a lot of uncharted territory for us. But I’ve known these boys for 18 months now. We’ve got a lot of players who can cope with pressure, and who are senior internationals. And most of them love to feel pressure.”