Where to start? October and November were both incredible months for Eintracht Frankfurt – two months in which they went on an 11-game unbeaten run that included ten wins and one draw. Two months that saw the birth of the three-man “buffalo herd” in attack, the historic 7-1 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf and Luka Jovic’s five-goal haul, a rise to third place in the Bundesliga and early qualification for the knockout stages of the Europa League. Jovic is tied with Borussia Dortmund’s Paco Alcacer at the top of the Bundesliga goalscoring chart after the first half of the season, while his strike partner Sébastien Haller (nine goals, nine assists) is second behind BVB star Marco Reus (11 goals, eight assists) when it comes to goals and assists combined, and just ahead of Jovic (12 goals, five assists).
Jovic himself has been surprised by this rapid rise. “I hoped, but didn’t expect, to be challenging for the top scorer crown,” said the young Serb. “The most important thing is the team’s performances. It doesn’t matter to me who the top scorer is.” This humble attitude is one ingredient in the Eagles’ recipe for success. They function as a team with everyone working for each other, as demanded by coach Adi Hütter.
Jovic makes history
The first match of October set the tone for the rest of the month as Eintracht claimed a magnificent 4-1 win at home to Italian side SS Lazio in the Europa League thanks to a Danny Da Costa brace and further goals from Filip Kostic and Jovic. Just three days later, the Eagles won 2-1 at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim before their incredible 7-1 triumph over Düsseldorf, in which Jovic became the first player in the club’s history to score five goals in one game.
Spine-tingling choreography
It wasn’t just on the pitch that Eintracht wowed in Europe, as the fans delivered one sensational tifo after another. A 2-0 victory over Apollon Limassol at the Commerzbank-Arena was followed by a 3-2 away win in Cyprus. Olympique Marseille were then comfortably disposed of 4-0 before the Eagles wrote another piece of history with their 2-1 win at Lazio in their final Group H match, becoming the first German team to win all six group games of a European competition. “To set this record in such a difficult group is quite something,” said Hütter following the historic success in Rome.
Sixth place at Christmas
Eintracht faced a gruelling three fixtures in the space of a week before the winter break. First they beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1, before a brace from Jovic earned them an almost customary draw against 1. FSV Mainz 05. The year ended with a visit from Bayern Munich, who have put their earlier crisis well behind them. Eintracht started well but couldn’t find the net and in the end went down to a harsh 3-0 defeat. Nevertheless, the fans lauded the players at the final whistle for a fantastic 2018 and a strong first half of the 2018/19 campaign as they went into Christmas in sixth place with 27 points.
