Eintracht Frankfurt’s Rasmus Kristensen insists ‘beer summit’ isn’t answer to team’s defensive woes | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt defender Rasmus Kristensen remained positively sullen after his Bundesliga outfit’s Champions League elimination on Tuesday night. This applied to both his choice of words and his personal appearance. The Danish defender sported a pair of black eyes whilst speaking to reporters in the mixed zone; sad souvenirs of the broken nose he incurred during last Friday night’s 3-3 draw with Bremen.

There were plenty of parallels to that recent league fixture, including the fact that Eintracht fell apart late to concede goals. Unlike against Bremen, however, the German Champions League representatives received no points for their efforts in their “UCL expulsion match”. The black-eyed Kristiansen very much looked and spoke like a man ejected from a bar fight. 

Rasmus Kristensen struggles to find the German words

“What’s the German word for ‘disappointed’?” Kristensen first had to ask reporters before receiving the answer ‘enttäuscht’. “That wasn’t good enough, especially from me. It would be great if I could give you guys a great answer or some cool analysis, but it’s just a matter of personal mistakes from me today.

“I’ll take personal responsibility for the error that led to the 2-2,” Kristensen continued. “The same applies to the goal that gave them the lead. We have to work hard to get our confidence back. At present, we’re dealing with this mental state in which we’re simply not sharp, confident, and good enough.

“We’ve no confidence or peace-of-mind,” Kristensen concluded. “It’s one of those phases. In football, as in life, things aren’t going your way. It’s not a very nice time right now. We just have to fight on. I wish I had a better answer for you guys, but that’s it.“

Kristensen learns a new German word

A reporter then asked if – in order to raise up team morale – Kristensen and his teammates might engage in a “Frust-Pause” (a collective decision to take a break from their frustrations). Kristensen didn’t understand what this meant. The reporter clarified that, in her vernacular at least, this translated to Kristensen and his defensive line-mates getting together and downing a few beers to forget matters.

“Phrew,” Kristensen replied with a deep exhalation out of his broken nose. “In modern professional football, we can perhaps do that without the beers. Maybe we’ll drink some apple juice spritzers.”

GGFN | Peter Weis