Rasmus Kristensen named Player of the Season | OneFootball

Around 30 per cent of Eintracht Frankfurt fans voted for the defender in the Mainova Player of the Season poll, with Hugo Ekitiké and Mario Götze coming second and third respectively.

“The coach’s darling,” as local newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau described him this week, Eintracht’s “mentality monster” Rasmus Kristensen has not only demonstrated fierce passion this season but remarkable qualities on the pitch, becoming the Bundesliga’s highest-scoring defender in a debut campaign since Maik Franz in 2009/10.

As well as registering six goals and two assists in the top flight, the Dane was also directly involved in two of the Eagles’ efforts in the UEFA Europa League (one goal, one assist). Even when he was absent through injury, head coach Dino Toppmöller described Kristensen as the “alpha male” in his position, a status underlined by the 27-year-old’s overall tally of 3,547 minutes on the pitch – the most of any Eagles player apart from Robin Koch, Hugo Ekitiké and Arthur Theate.

“I feel really at home here, as do my family,” Kristensen himself said recently. “That’s the most important thing. Everything suits me here: the people, the football, the club’s mentality and the fans.”

The feeling has been mutual – and not just since Eintracht fans voted him as their Player of the Season. “The support we received last season was just phenomenal,” continued the Dane. “You don’t get that kind of support in football very often. I think we as a team have a special connection to our fans.”

That bond is in no small part down to players, and born fighters, like Rasmus Kristensen.