Berlin (dpa) – Ex-national player Bernd Schuster encouraged Eintracht Frankfurt before the quarter-final first leg in the Europa League against FC Barcelona. The Bundesliga club no longer has to be in awe of players like Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez or Neymar, said the 62-year-old in an interview with “Sport Bild”.
“In addition, Xavi’s team is still forming and is very prone to making a bad game,” said Schuster, referring to the fact that Barcelona idol Xavi has only been coaching the team since November. Frankfurt welcomes the runners-up in the Spanish championship on Thursday (9 p.m. / RTL). The second leg will take place on April 14th.
According to Schuster, who played for FC Barcelona from 1980 to 1988, the Catalans lacked stability for a long time after Ronald Koeman’s coaching change to Xavi. “The fact that Xavi still doesn’t have a starting eleven is symbolic,” said the 1980 European champion. Coolness is important for Frankfurt in the game against Barcelona. Standards are also a suitable means of scoring a goal – “defensively this has been Barcelona’s Achilles’ heel for years”.
Because of the defensive weakness, Schuster considers the Frankfurt defense chief Martin Hinteregger to be a suitable player for Barcelona. “Central defense is one of the areas where Barcelona need to improve quality. Hinteregger’s profile would suit the team well,” said Schuster, who coached four different Spanish clubs: UD Levante, FC Getafe, Real Madrid and FC Malaga .
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220406-99-814869/2
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