Frankfurt appeal for calm as relegation looms
Eintracht Frankfurt have appealed for calm ahead of their final Bundesliga league game at champions Borussia Dortmund on Saturday that could see them relegated.
Some 150 Frankfurt supporters stormed on the pitch last week following their defeat by Cologne, that left them in 17th place, and tried to attack the players.
They damaged advertising panels and the fencing around the tribunes and police used teargas to round them back into the stands.
"We call on you as a part of Eintracht Frankfurt to show in Dortmund what has made us strong over the years. Solidarity, faith, optimism and fairness," club bosses Heribert Bruchhagen and Peter Fischer said in an open letter.
"Whoever thinks they can vent their frustration through violence and that this is acceptable fan culture then they are clearly against the club and its 112-year history, against all faithful and upstanding supporters, against our own future."
Frankfurt need to beat or draw at Dortmund to have any chance of staying up with Borussia Moenchengladbach, a point ahead, in the relegation playoff spot. Wolfsburg are in 15th place, also on 35 points, but with a better goal difference than Gladbach.
"We are obviously the outsiders going into this game but we can change that on the pitch," Frankfurt coach Christoph Daum told reporters on Friday. "We will play for success and success for me is at least one point."
