Riera discusses Frankfurt's momentum and European hopes

Albert Riera spoke in detail about his first month in Frankfurt as well as his managerial journey in an exclusive interview with Bundesliga. The Spaniard has won every home game so far, while his only defeat came away at the champions-elect Bayern Munich.

“It’s been a very intense month,” Riera started explaining the difficulties with the timing of his arrival. “Ideally, a coach always comes precisely when you have six weeks of preparation, where you can get to know each other better, and you have time to work. But when you join mid-competition, you have to win the next game.

“You must be clear on what you have to work on, because it’s impossible to work on everything. I think the team was low mentally, which is normal. After a period of 13 games, winning only one game, every team in the world would be low mentally. I was focused on waking them up because player confidence is very powerful.”

Riera, who has won trophies with Slovenian clubs Olimpija Ljubljana and Celje, attributed his immediate success to the work done in changing the team’s mentality. After conceding three goals in each of their previous five Bundesliga games, Frankfurt have kept four clean sheets in six matches since the arrival of the 43-year-old coach.

“I knew I had quality players, but they were a bit blocked at that moment. After that, I think you could already see the players’ body language. They looked a bit bigger and taller because they now have more confidence.”

Riera also classified his way of thinking into three basic ways of playing. “When I see a team playing, I see my character, my personality, and what I am teaching them during the week.

“You can see a very serious team off the ball with a very clear concept of defending, and yet a team that is also desperate to recover the ball as soon as possible. Also, we want to have a lot of ideas on the ball. We can surprise the opponent with these three different ways of playing. You can’t play the same way all the time.”

Frankfurt could still qualify for Europe, but finishing seventh might not be enough with the poor results of Bundesliga teams affecting the coefficient. “We don’t know what we will have achieved in May,” Riera responded when he was asked whether that’s their target.

“What we can control is winning a very important three points this weekend (vs. Mainz). Then we will go to the next game, and the next game, and in the end, we will see whether we deserve to be there. We are motivated to be in Europe next season, and this is what we are focused on.”