Trapp and Knauff look ahead to next week at Camp Nou: "Anyone who doesn't believe has no place here."
After another emotionally charged night in Germany's commercial capital, Eintracht Frankfurt professionals Ansgar Knauff and Kevin Trapp spoke on the challenge to come next week.
| Kevin Trapp. | Photo: Werner100359, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
"These are the moments one dreams about as a child," goal-scorer Ansgar Knauff noted, "FC Barcelona. Floodlights. Against that backdrop of fans. A goal like that. I'll never forget it. I still can't believe it's real."
Knauff's goal was indeed a superb strike. The Germany U21 international bravely came forward to hit the ball first time from just outside the 18 in the 48th. A marvelous bit of top-spin off of Knauff's laces left Barça keeper Marc André ter Stegen without much of a chance.
The German national team net-minder congratulated his countryman after the match.
"Through what felt like 20 men in front of me, he hit it well," ter Stegen noted, "You really have to hand it to him."
Spurned on by a raucous sell out crowd in one of Germany's great footballing temples, Eintracht completely did away with their status as underdogs. The home team kept the Blaugrana guests away from their goal for a long time. Martin Hinteregger had a monster night in defense. Daichi Kamada, Jesper Lindstrøm fashioned some great scoring chances.
Despite all of this, the SGE were overrun at one point and Ferran Torres was able to score the equalizer after a nice give-and-go with Frenkie de Jong in the 66th. The German UEL representatives could only pull out a draw from their own footballing cathedral and must now head to one of the most sacred grounds in the history of the sport.
"It's annoying that we didn't take the win because we deserved it," Knauff added.
SGE Keeper Kevin Trapp expressed similar sentiments. The backstop who competes with counterpart ter Stegen on the German national team depth chart warned of the perils of next week's return leg at the Camp Nou.
"It will be a different game next week," Trapp warned, "but if we don't believe then we might as well not go there at all. Anyone who doesn't believe has no place here."
"We can do it," Knauff added, "We told ourselves that we can do it tonight and we delivered. We'll be looking to advance next week. It's down to one match."
While it wasn't quite the last-minute sensation experienced by Eintracht players against Real Betis in the Europa League round-of-16, the SGE actors who drew against Barcelona Thursday night at Deutsche Bank Park agreed that it had been an incredible evening.
"These are the moments one dreams about as a child," goal-scorer Ansgar Knauff noted, "FC Barcelona. Floodlights. Against that backdrop of fans. A goal like that. I'll never forget it. I still can't believe it's real."
Knauff's goal was indeed a superb strike. The Germany U21 international bravely came forward to hit the ball first time from just outside the 18 in the 48th. A marvelous bit of top-spin off of Knauff's laces left Barça keeper Marc André ter Stegen without much of a chance.
The German national team net-minder congratulated his countryman after the match.
"Through what felt like 20 men in front of me, he hit it well," ter Stegen noted, "You really have to hand it to him."
Spurned on by a raucous sell out crowd in one of Germany's great footballing temples, Eintracht completely did away with their status as underdogs.
The home team kept the Blaugrana guests away from their goal for a long time. Martin Hinteregger had a monster night in defense. Daichi Kamada, Jesper Lindstrøm fashioned some great scoring chances.
Despite all of this, the SGE were overrun at one point and Ferran Torres was able to score the equalizer after a nice give-and-go with Frenkie de Jong in the 66th.
The German UEL representatives could only pull out a draw from their own footballing cathedral and must now head to one of the most sacred grounds in the history of the sport.
"It's annoying that we didn't take the win because we deserved it," Knauff added.
SGE Keeper Kevin Trapp expressed similar sentiments. The backstop who competes with counterpart ter Stegen on the German national team depth chart warned of the perils of next week's return leg at the Camp Nou.
"It will be a different game next week," Trapp warned, "but if we don't believe then we might as well not go there at all. Anyone who doesn't believe has no place here."
"We can do it," Knauff added, "We told ourselves that we can do it tonight and we delivered. We'll be looking to advance next week. It's down to one match."