If they were on the verge of something special, the man in charge was hiding it well. It was not, insisted Dino Toppmöller, a final. Nor a playoff. Nor was it even the most important match of the season. All it was, according to the Eintracht Frankfurt coach the day before the game, was quite simply: “Matchday 31.”
By the end, as Saturday night drew in, it was definitely Saturday night. It turned out that Toppmöller’s less-is-more approach suited his team perfectly. They had thrashed RB Leipzig, their significantly more wealthy rivals for a Champions League spot, and were six points clear of their fifth-placed opposition with three games left, staring a return to the promised land square in the eyes.
